


Blood Red

by orphan_account



Series: Young Justice: Iridescent [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Future, M/M, Multi, The Light, random tag because i can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4331217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nearly nine years ago, Wally West died. Or that's what everyone thought. One random day, the speedster returns, expecting happiness and acceptance, but only comes to realize that his friends and family are disappearing for unkown reasons, and grows desperate in trying to find the cause. Is this a work of the Light? </p><p>Or something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. YEAR 2025

**YEAR 2025**

**EARTH 16 AS OF JANUARY 1ST, 2025**

**THE TEAM**

**ARROWETTE**  
Alias: Bonnie King  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 19  
Date of Birth: August 1st, 2005  
Mentor(s): Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

 **BATGIRL II**  
Alias: Stephanie Brown  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 18  
Date of Birth: October 15th, 2006  
Mentor(s): Batman II (Richard Grayson), Red Robin (Tim Drake), Batman (Bruce Wayne)(formerly)

 **BEAST BOY**  
Alias: Garfield Logan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human-Martian  
Age: 22  
Date of Birth: November 14th, 2002  
Mentor(s): Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz/Megan Morse)(formerly)

 **BUNKER**  
Alias: Miguel Jose Barragan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 14  
Date of Birth: February 28th, 2010  
Mentor(s): Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Green Lantern (Milagro Reyes)(considered mentor)

 **GREEN LANTERN**  
Alias: Milagro Reyes  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 17  
Date of Birth: June 7th, 2007  
Mentor(s): Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Blue Beetle III (Jaime Reyes)(considered mentor)

 **MARY MARVEL**  
Alias: Mary Willow Batson  
Sex: Female  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 16  
Date of Birth: January 29th, 2008  
Mentor(s): Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)

 **MISS MARTIAN**  
Alias: Megan Morse/M'gann M'orzz  
Sex: Female  
Species: Martian  
Age: 62 (25 human biological equivalent)  
Date of Birth: April 10th, 1962 (April 10th, 1994 human biological equivalent)  
Mentor(s): Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz/John Jones)

 **RAVEN**  
Alias: Rachel Roth  
Sex: Female  
Species: Demon-Human  
Age: 17  
Date of Birth: October 31st, 2007  
Mentor(s): N/A

 **ROBIN V**  
Alias: Damian Wayne  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 16  
Date of Birth: April 12th, 2008  
Mentor(s): Batman II (Richard Grayson), Red Robin (Tim Drake), Batman (Bruce Wayne)(formerly), Batgirl II (Stephanie Brown)(considered mentor)

 **STARFIRE**  
Alias: Koriand'r  
Sex: Female  
Species: Tamaranean  
Age: 16  
Date of Birth: July 19th, 2008  
Mentor(s): N/A

 **STREAKY**  
Alias: Streaky  
Sex: Male  
Species: Kryptonian Cat  
Age: 5  
Date of Birth: July 16th, 2019  
Affiliation: Supergirl (Kara Kent)

 **SUPERBOY**  
Alias: Conner Kent  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human-Kryptonian  
Age: 16 (physically), 30 (mentally), 14 (chronologically)  
Date of Birth: March 21st, 2010 (March 21st, 1994 mental equivalent)  
Mentor(s): Superman (Clark Kent)(formerly)

 **SUPERGIRL**  
Alias: Kara Kent  
Sex: Female  
Species: Kryptonian  
Age: 15  
Date of Birth: June 17th, 2009  
Mentor(s): Superman (Clark Kent), Superboy (Conner Kent)  
  
**WOLF**    
Alias: Wolf  
Sex: Male  
Species: Kobra-Venom-Enhanced Wolf  
Age: 16 (Kobra Venom allows Wolf to live 4x longer than the average wolf)  
Date of Birth: November 28th, 2008  
Affiliation: Superboy (Conner Kent)

 **THE TEAM: FORMER MEMBERS  ** **(NOW OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE)**

 **AQUALAD**  
Alias: Kaldur'ahm  
Sex: Male  
Species: Atlantean  
Age: 30  
Date of Birth: January 21st, 1994  
Formerly: N/A

 **BATMAN II**  
Alias: Richard Grayson  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 28  
Date of Birth: December 1st, 1996  
Formerly: Robin, Nightwing

 **BLUE BEETLE III**  
Alias: Jaime Reyes  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 25  
Date of Birth: October 24th, 1999  
Formerly: N/A

 **BUMBLEBEE**  
Alias: Karen Beecher  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: February 2nd, 1995  
Formerly: N/A

 **GUARDIAN II**  
Alias: Malcom Duncan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 31  
Date of Birth: August 3rd, 1993  
Formerly: N/A

 **ICON II**  
Alias: Raquel Ervin  
Sex: Female  
Species: Unclassified Alien  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: October 10th, 1995  
Formerly: Rocket

 **KID FLASH II**  
Alias: Bartholomew Allen  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: -18 (technically), 22 (time-stream equivalent)  
Date of Birth: September 13th, 2042 (technically), September 13th, 2002 (time-stream equivalent)  
Formerly: Impulse

 **LAGOON BOY**  
Alias: La'gaan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Atlantean  
Age: 26  
Date of Birth: August 29th, 1998  
Formerly: N/A

 **RED ROBIN**  
Alias: Timothy Drake  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 23  
Date of Birth: July 20th, 2001  
Formerly: Robin III

 **STATIC SHOCK**  
Alias: Virgil Hawkins  
Sex: Male  
Age: 24  
Date of Birth: November 1st, 2000  
Formerly: N/A

 **TIGRESS**  
Alias: Artemis Crock  
Sex: Female  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: March 13th, 1995  
Formerly: Artemis

 **WONDER GIRL**  
Alias: Cassandra Sandsmark  
Sex: Female  
Age: 23  
Date of Birth: August 5th, 2001  
Formerly: N/A

 **ZATANNA**  
Alias: Zatanna Zatara  
Sex: Female  
Age: 28  
Date of Birth: April 30th, 1996  
Formerly: N/A

**RETIRED**

**BATGIRL**  
Alias: Barbara Gordon  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: permanent paralyzation in legs

 **BATMAN**  
Alias: Bruce Wayne  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: permanent lung injury

 **HAWKMAN**  
Alias: Katar Hol  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: age

 **ICON**  
Alias: Augustus Freeman  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: age

**DECEASED**

**ARSENAL**  
Alias: Roy Harper  
Aged: 27 (chronologically), 19 (frozen-time equivalent)  
March 11th, 1993 - June 1st, 2020  
CAUSE OF DEATH: aircraft crash

 **AQUAGIRL**  
Alias:Tula  
Aged: 20  
June 13th, 1994 - February 18th, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: smashed by boulders

 **BLACK CANARY**  
Alias: Dinah Queen  
Aged: 37  
July 8th, 1987 - August 6th, 2024  
CAUSE OF DEATH: killed by Light drone

 **BLUE BEETLE II**  
Alias: Ted Kord  
Aged: 32  
April 20th, 1983 - July 18th, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: killed by an explosion

 **FLASH**  
Alias: Jason Garrick  
Aged: 101  
April 7th, 1919 - September 27th, 2020  
CAUSE OF DEATH: old age

 **HUNTRESS**  
Alias: Paula Nguyen-Crock  
Aged: 60  
June 3rd, 1962 - June 3rd, 2022  
CAUSE OF DEATH: assassinated by Sportsmaster

 **KID FLASH**  
Alias: Wallace West  
Aged: 21  
November 11th, 1994 - June 20th, 2016  
CAUSE OF DEATH: chrysalis absorbing energy

 **ROBIN II**  
Alias: Jason Todd  
Aged: 15  
July 4th, 1999 - January 1st, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: assassinated by The Joker

**OTHER**

**Iris West II & ** **Jai West**  
Children of: Wallace West  & Artemis Crock  
Species: Meta-Human  
Ages: 7  
Date of Births: March 5th, 2017

 **Lian Ngyuen-Harper**  
Child of: Roy Harper II  & Jade Nguyen  
Species: Human  
Age: 9  
Date of Birth: September 7th, 2015  
  
**Don Allen &**  **Dawn Allen**  
Children of: Barry Allen  & Iris West-Allen  
Species: Meta-Human  
Ages: 8                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Date of Births: December 16th, 2016


	2. Chapter 1

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 3RD, 2025**

**20:19 PCT**

"No, Irey, now go to bed." Artemis rubbed her temples as she tried to get her obnoxious daughter to sleep.

"You're not gonna win against her." Jai folded his arms and faced his twin sister, then faced his mother, "Why don't Bart and Jaime watch us? I hate Margaret!"

"Jai, don't be rude!" Artemis scolded, "Margaret will be here in a few minutes, and Bart and Jaime are in the League as well and have responsibilites."

"Why aren't we in the League? We can be responsible!" Irey threw her hands up into the air, and then waved her right arm quickly to show off her super-speed.

"No." Artemis said stubbornly, "You're too young."

"Then what about that Team you were on?" Jai asked.

"You have to be at least twelve to join," Artemis told her son, "and both of you are too young to be superheros in general."

"You're just afraid." Irey pouted, "Barry lets Don and Dawn fight crime."

"I'm  _not_ Barry." Artemis growled in frustration, when the doorbell rang, "Now behave yourselves."

As if it were on cue, the two young twins muttered,

"Fine."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 3RD, 2025**

**22:37 EST**

"Aspirin?" Bart held out the bottle of pills towards Artemis.

"You know me so well." Artemis rolled her eyes but accepted the bottle anyways, then looked around, "Where's Jaime? He's always right next to you."

Bart laughed, "I think he's giving Robin one of those 'touch my little sister below her waist and I will murder you' talks."

Artemis chuckled a bit, and headed her way towards the kitchen, and Bart trotted behind her. She swore, that Bart already knew what was going on between her and her kids- their strong desire to become superheros- but Artemis knew all too well of the risks. She was not going to let her seven year olds fight crime. No way. Especially with the recent death of Black Canary, how a Light machine killed her. The Light has been acting what Artemis could only describe as "wacky" recently, and Artemis feared that they were onto something. She then shook her head. The Light was  _always_ onto something.

"Irey and Jai problems?" Bart asked.

Yup. There it was.

Artemis stopped and grabbed a clear glass, filling it up with water from the sink. She then swallowed her aspirin, set her glass on the counter island, and folded her arms, looking down.

"Yup." she said quietly, her voice croaking.

"Artemis, look at me." Bart said, using his finger to lift her head up. Bart had been taller than her since he was sixteen, and only got taller from there. It was fair to say the guy was almost six feet tall.

"I can watch them eventually. Don't be afraid to ask." he said, removing his finger.

Artemis sighed, "You're busy."

Bart rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe sometimes. But not all of the time."

"Thanks." Artemis said, hugging the younger man.

Bart just smiled.

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 3RD, 2025**

**9:02 PCT**

"Noooow, please?" Lian begged.

"No my dear, you have to eat breakfast first." Jade insisted, plopping a plate of eggs and sausage down onto the kitchen table along with a mug of milk.

"Ugh, you're such a  _mom_!" Lian complained, but began to eat her food anyways.

"Arrowette and G.A. have the city under control." Roy began, sipping at his coffee, "We don't need to go out as of this moment."

Lian glared at her father, chewing her food slowly, then stared at her plate, finished up her food, and chugged down her glass of milk.

"I'm ready." she insisted.

Roy groaned, resting his head on his hand, "Look," he said, "I still have work to do and-"

"Fine, be that way." Lian grumbled, putting her dishes in the sink before stomping off into her room.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 3RD, 2025**

**22:45 EST**

"The Light has been acting suspicious lately, with new kinds of drones surrounding several bases. Batman and Robin have both managed to track each base." Miss Martian explained to the Team, and she pulled out a hologram globe, "There seems to be one in each continent, all except Antartica and Europe. Number one is located in the United States, near the border of Canada, in Washington. Number two is located in South America, in a country called Paraguay. Number three is in a country in Africa, Zambia. Four is in Tokyo, Japan. Five, eastern Australia. Our job as covert operatives is to find out what the meaning of this is convient placing of each base in continent is, and what they're hiding."

"The League's approach was a failure." Batman walked towards the Team, "And cost us a life. So we are planning on following a new tactic."

Miss Martian nodded, remembering their former den mother, then turned to her Team, "Superboy, Wolf, you're Alpha. You guys and Sphere will be at the Washington base. Mary, Starfire, Supergirl, you're Beta, and will take the South American base. Your transportation will be flight. Beast Boy, Me, G.L., are Gamma. G.L. will transport us to Africa. Raven, Bunker, Streaky, you're Delta, and will take the Bioship to Japan. And lastly, Batgirl, Arrowette, Robin, you two are Espilon, and Wonder Girl has offered to help you with the mission, so she will be coming along as well. You three will be taking Wonder Woman's invisible jet to Australia."

"One problem, boss." Stephanie pointed out.

"What is it, Batgirl?" Miss Martian asked.

Batgirl shrugged,

"Uh... yeah. Bonnie's not here."

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 3RD, 2025**

**19:45 PCT**

She ran through vacant rooftops, taking a breath and admiring her city. She adjusted her bright yellow hat, and looked down. It was a quiet night, and the street she was near was empty. She squinted her eyes, looking for any signs of trouble.

There.

She launched a net-arrow towards the robber who ran down the street, several thousands of dollars in his stuffed bag, with two men in business suits chasing after him, shouting and cursing. They came to a sudden halt when the net wrapped itself around the thief, causing a grunt of pain as the criminal hit the ground.

Speedy jumped down from her spot on the building, and ran towards the man, who desperately tried to free himself.

"T-thank you." one of the men stammered, his dark brown hair now a mess and his tie flung on his back.

Police sirens began to wail, and Speedy nodded before running into the dark alley-ways between the buildings.

"I know you're there." Speedy insisted.

Bonnie sighed and came into the dim light, her bow resting by her side, "What, does the old man let you out alone, now?"

Lian was quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Yes."

"Mmm, yeah. I know you. 'yes' means 'no'. Whatever, I wont tell 'em this time. Oh by the way, you took my criminal." Bonnie grumbled in annoyance.

"Got a problem with that?" Lian challenged.

"Calm down, kid." Bonnie said, "I have to get to the Watchtower, I'm extremely late. Better get home before the Big Red finds out you left."

Lian grumbled in annoyance, but nodded. Bonnie went over to the Zeta Tube, where it recognized her, and she disappeared.

**OVER METROPOLIS**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**4:00 PCT**

"Sphere says we're almost there." Superboy told Wolf. A light snowfall covered the city, and being this high up in the air would have made it absolutely freezing, if it weren't for Superboy began half-Kryptonian or Wolf being un-enhanced by Kobra Venom (or being a wolf in general).

Wolf whined, and then barked towards the ground. They were well above the trees now, and there was a small building hidden within them. Wolf barked again.

"This is it?" Superboy asked, "No drones, no guards, nothing?"

Superboy activated his comm, "Alpha to Team. We've arrived at our destination, but something doesn't seem right."

**OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**6:00 EST**

"And that's how I fucked her." Starfire finished.

Mary and Kara were silent.

"That's... great, I guess?" Mary asked.

"Wanna hear about the time I found out Miguel was gay?" Starfire asked.

"O...kay?" Kara asked, weirded out by her friend's graphic description of sex with her ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends, and her sexual experience with her current girlfriend, Batgirl.

"When he joined the Team, I thought he was pretty hot." Koriand'r admitted, "I began to make a move on him, and eventually flashed him my boobs, hoping to get him horny."

Kara rolled her eyes, of course Starfire would do something like that.

"He didn't react at all. He just said, 'okay' and went back to eating his food!" Koriand'r exclaimed, "So I began to rub on him, and it still didn't work. He eventually just blurted out he was gay. I wish he just said that in the first place; I hate having to go through all of that work!"

"Star..." Mary began, "Maybe you should take a break from all of... this?"

Starfire hissed, "Never! You must be a  _virgin._ "

"Uh... yes, but..." Mary began, but Starfire cut her off.

"So don't judge me." Starfire concluded.

Supergirl checked her hologram,

"Guys, shut up. We're at our halfway point to South America."

**OVER CHICAGO**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**5:00 CT**

"I-" Bunker began.

"Don't. Talk." Raven muttered as she flew the Bioship, and Streaky meowed in agreement.

"Sheesh, you're so rude." Bunker folded his arms, looking out of the Bioship window and at the skyscrapers below him, "Why do you hate everyone?"

"I don't." Raven insisted, "You're just loud."

" _You're just loud._ " Miguel mocked, "Oh yeah? Well maybe you're too quiet."

"Listen," Raven growled, "We have a mission to attend to, so  _Act_.  _Professional_."

"Whatever you say,  _mom_."

**OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**6:00 EST**

"I dunno." Beast Boy said, "Are you sure this is a legit plane?"

"Si, hermano." Milagro replied, annoyed, "It's just lime green."

"Gar, remember nine years ago when the League had to go court and Hal made a huge jet for them?" Megan asked.

"Yeah?" Gar replied.

"It's the same concept. We'll be okay. Trust Milagro." Megan commanded.

"Just don't trust Jaime, though." Milagro said with amuesment.

"I saw him barking at Robin the other day." Garfield said, "He's like, really protective of you."

Milagro shrugged, "Usually it takes Bart to shut him up."

"Milagro, make sure to pay attention." Miss Martian reminded.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." The Hispanic girl apologized.

"So sis," Garfield asked, "Why did you never join the League?"

"I didn't want to." the Martian replied simply, "How about you?"

Gar was silent for a few seconds before saying,

"I didn't want to."

**OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**6:00 EST**

"Prepare for a long ride, girls... and Robin." Wonder Girl said as they started to fly above the Atlantic Ocean.

Robin didn't speak. He just looked out the window.

"What? Miss your wittle girlfriend?" Stephanie teased.

Robin gave the blonde the silent treatment in response.

Stephanie sighed, "Why can't we just send Barry or Bart over there?"

"It's not their job." Wonder Girl said simply, "We'll be there in about two hours- the jet isn't too slow."

"Bonnie?" Stephanie faced her friend who only looked half-conscious

"Huh? What? Yeah?" Bonnie snapped awake.

"Why were you late yesterday?" Batgirl asked.

"Oh, uh, I got caught up. With Speedy." Arrowette stammered.

"How is she?" Stephanie asked.

"Fine." Arrowette insisted.

"So, Australia..." Wonder Girl said, switching the subject, "Is it as dangerous and wild as stereotypes claim it to be?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are interested in this story, fear not, it is finished, so updates shouldn't be inconsistent.


	3. Chapter 2

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**8:07 PCT**

It was without a doubt that Lian was a smart little girl. She was a curious one as well. She knew about her father being a clone, her mother being a retired villain, and such. But some things, she felt, were kept hidden.

"Dad..." she said, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Red Arrow put down his newspaper, then said, "Technically."

"Technically?" Lian raised an eyebrow.

"His name's Jim. He was Guardian before Mal." Roy replied.

"What about mom?" Lian asked.

Red Arrow was silent for a few seconds before saying, "No."

"Oh." Lian replied simply.

Red Arrow felt guilty for keeping secrets from his daughter, but it was for the best. Lian was already far too impulsive and slightly rebellious, and if she found out she had speedster cousins, he just knew she'd go look for them, and he knew that Artemis did not want her children involved in the hero life, even though the two desperately wanted to. Finding out that Lian was Speedy may make their urges even stronger.

"Does Jim have kids?" she asked.

"I don't think so." Red Arrow admitted, "Why are you so curious, Lian?"

Lian shrugged.

**U.S.-CANADA BORDER**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**4:05 PCT**

Sphere carefully lowered herself to the ground, and Superboy slowly made his way out, Wolf next to him. The building seemed old and in need of repair. The Boy of Steel used his x-ray vision to look inside; but it just looked ordinary. Suddenly, his comm activated.

" _Superboy, are you there?"_ the voice was Dick's.

"Yeah. It looks completely normal. Did you track the wrong place?"

" _I am nearly a hundred percent certain that this is the North American base. Blue Beetle is Zeta-ing to your location as of currently, because this sounds like a trap to me. Just stay put, buddy."_

**PARAGUAY**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**7:12 EST**

The three teenage girls landed in their destination.

"It's pretty here." Mary commented as she watched a waterfall roar in the distance.

"Yeah, well, we're not here for vacation." Supergirl muttered as she pulled up her hologram again, "Let's get down to business."

The three walked through the rain forest, often hearing animals croak and branches of trees sway. The humid air made Mary sweat, letting out an annoying "hoo" every time she wiped her forehead.

"Here." Kara said, "The hologram says right here."

Behind the trees, they were facing a large waterfall, with a large pool of water below it.

"There it is!  _Absolutely nothing_." Starfire muttered.

"Don't you guys get it?" Mary asked, "There's obviously some sort of secret passage way inside the waterfall! Like in the movies!" she began to make her way out into the open, when Kara grabbed her.

"Enough! We might trigger some kind of security. I'll scan to see if I can find any cameras." Supergirl activated her x-ray vision and scanned the area.

"Three cameras and three motion sensors." she confirmed.

"So, how can we destroy them without triggering an alarm?" Starfire asked.

"There's some program for that... Batman installed on everyone's hologram... let me try this..." she began to push buttons on her hologram, and then said, "Okay, got it. Stealth mode everyone."

The other two teenagers nodded in response, and each of their costumes went from their original colors to black. The three then made their way out into the open, and towards the waterfall. Kara used her frozen-breath to freeze the water flow, and then punched the now-frozen water so it shattered into pieces. Starfire then used her eye-beams to carve a circle into the stone, which all three caught before it fell and made a loud bang. After gently setting down the piece of stone, the girls looked inside.

It was completely hollow.

"Told ya!" Mary whispered excitedly. Starfire rolled her eyes, and lit up a ball of energy on her hand to illuminate the inside. She lead the way while the other two followed, but they couldn't seem to find anything. Kara had her eyes set on infrared vision in case of any enemy approaches. Nothing.

They continued to go deeper and deeper into the waterfall. Starfire stopped in her tracks. She saw a small door on one of the walls of stone. Mary Marvel went over to the door first, inspecting the piece. It had a digital pass-code on it. She placed her hand on the door and sent small electric pulses through it, before it's code flickered and eventually went dead. She slowly pushed open the door. It was a small, dark corridor. She looked at her peers in confusion, wondering when this would end. They began to walk down the corridor, Starfire's energy ball being the only thing that provided light. It seemed like forever when they kept walking- and eventually, another door was seen in the distance. Filled with a new burst of energy, they quickly made their way towards the other door, and stopped. There was a voice on the other side. Kara used her x-ray vision to see through the door. Her eyes widened.

"It's Queen Bee." she whispered in unease. The other girls' eyes widened as well. Kara looked through the wall again, and tried to make out the other figure. After a few seconds, she could see it. It wasn't a man she's ever seen before- in fact, it just seemed like an ordinary man. He began to cry out in pain, and he was curled up on the floor, and Queen Bee kicked him in the stomach. The man coughed up blood. Queen Bee grabbed the man, and kissed him.

"Now tell me," she commanded, "Where is he?"

The man stood still for a few seconds, eyes seeming blank, when he replied, "Central City."

"I mean as of this moment. I know what city he lives in, but where does he live?!" Queen Bee demanded.

"I don't know. I don't know who he is!" the man cried.

Queen Bee dropped him, "Useless piece of shit." she muttered, "Waste of my time."

Mary and Starfire heard what had happened through the door.

"We have to help him!" Mary insisted.

Kara nodded. Using all of her force she could muster at that moment, she kicked down the door. Queen Bee snarled immediately.

"Give us the man." Starfire growled.

Queen Bee grabbed a knife off of a table in the center of the room, and held it against the man's neck. She began to back away, towards something. A button.

Quick to react, Kara used her heat vision to blow up the button, the heat from it slightly burning Queen Bee's skin. She cried in pain. Mary and Starfire soared towards her. Mary grabbed the knife and threw it across the room, placing itself firmly into a wall. Starfire grabbed the man, and Kara soared towards Queen Bee, punching her in the face, causing her to knock unconscious.

"We're taking her as prisoner." Kara explained as she picked up Queen Bee, "We can use her for information."

The other two nodded, and all three made their way out of the waterfall.

**JAPAN**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**16:47 CT**

"We're here." Raven said blandly.

"Finally." Bunker said, and yawned, stretching his arms and legs.

The Bioship opened it's back doors, allowing the two (and Streaky) to exit.

"Tokyo!" Bunker said cheerily, gesturing to large glowing city ahead of them.

Raven sighed in annoyance, but the three heroes began to make their ways towards the bright city, and after about fifteen minutes, came across a plaza.

"We're gonna stick out here. We need to stay in the shadows." Raven said. For the first time, Bunker nodded in agreement. They kept towards darker areas of the city, Bunker having his hologram out to track the base. Nobody seemed to bother them, despite their strangeness. Bunker looked up in the sky. There, was a huge skyscraper, with the letters "LL" overlapping each other in a circle logo.

"This is it." Bunker confirmed. People seemed to casually walk into the building, so they decided to approach, and walked in without problem. With Raven's hood covering her face, and hiding Streaky in her cloak, and Bunker wearing normal clothing over his hero clothing, there wasn't any questioning. They were quick to realize that this was a tour building, or some sort of museum exhibit- to admire the "great" inventions and ideas of Lex Luthor.

"Think he'll be here?" Bunker whispered.

Raven shrugged, "Maybe. We just have to find the literal base, not all of this tourist stuff."

They let themselves be at a distance, when Streaky began to meow softly underneath Raven's cloak. Scanning the room to make sure she was at an appropriate angle where no cameras would spot the cat, Raven let the orange cat out, to which he began to claw at the floor and continue to meow.

"Underneath." Raven confirmed, "The base is underneath. We just have to find our way down."

"I got this." Bunker gave a mischievous smile and he constructed a brick with his mind.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked. Before Miguel replied, he shot the brick through the ceiling, making it's way in and out of the ceiling, debris falling onto the floor. Visitors screamed and began to rush their way out.

"Distraction." he said, "Can you make a portal for us to go into the ground?"

Raven nodded, and a large black hole appeared in the ground, to which all three jumped down.

The room was dark, the only light was a computer in the center of a room, where a man seemed to be at work, and a woman standing next to him.

"Mercy, there's a disruption upstairs. Take care of it for me." he commanded. The woman nodded, and made her way into the darkness.

"There's my treasures." he chuckled.

Bunker's eyes widened.

"That's... that's Kid Flash...and... Kid Flash..." he whispered.

Raven nodded. Pulled up on the man's computer were both Bart and Wally. A phone-like ring was made, and the two jumped back, startled, luckily not making any noise.

"Hello?" the man said, spinning his chair around, holding his piece up to his ear. That man was definitely Lex Luthor.

"Oh? You're ready?" he asked, "Good, good, I agree, he was not a suitable leader... I am certain this will work out this time. ...Yes, yes, we're working on it. Our first priority is to get the boy ...Goodbye." Lex Luthor hung up and went back to his work, minimizing the pictures of Bart and Wally.

"We need to get out." Bunker said urgently. Raven activated a portal and the three went back upstairs to the first floor. Mercy spotted them right away. Through her arm, she fired at the heroes, and Bunker reacted quickly by protecting them with a brick wall. Streaky flew up into the air, Mercy missing every time she tried to hit the orange tom. Streaky used his heat vision to melt her arm-gun off, only to have her activate another with the other arm. Streaky yelped in pain as he was shot.

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" Raven exclaimed, and a dark shadow figure reflected her body. The shadow then wrapped itself around Mercy, squeezing it until the robot exploded.

"...woah." Bunker said. Raven just smiled in satisfaction.

They quickly made their way out of the building, and back towards the Bioship.

**ZAMBIA**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**6:36 EST**

Milagro's jet disappeared as they landed onto the ground. It was rather quiet here, in this area of the country. There was merely a barbed wire fence with a few horses and cows behind it, the mellow creatures eating at the grass. Megan squinted her eyes, and could see a small wooden house in the distance.

"This is it." she confirmed. Her team members followed her, all three skipping over the fence, Miss Martian scanning the building for any minds before entering. There were none. Slowly, she opened the creaking door. All three gasped.

There was a dead elderly woman on the floor, obviously stabbed in the head with a sharp weapon, her eyes wide and jaw open as she spent her last moments in absolute fear. Miss Martian held her arm out to prevent her Team from going any further. There was a rustle before a machine was heard operating, and something rolled out of the room.

Miss Martian gasped.

The Brain didn't respond verbally- immediately it shot at the three, to which Milagro covered with a shield. Beast Boy turned into a rhino and charged at the Brain, smashing into it but not seeming to make a difference. Milagro attempted to "Brain Blast" the Brain, but the only response from the Brain was a laugh, and it said, "Foolish Martian, do you really think your weak mind can make it past my powerful computer programs?"

The Brain began to bring out all of it's weapons, becoming nearly five times as large. Milagro reacted quickly, summoning a tank and shooting at the Brain. There was a loud explosion as debris flew back into the heroes' faces. After several amounts of coughing and waving arms around, the debris finally cleared, and a collapsed wooden house sat on top of them.

As a gorilla, Beast Boy pushed the wooden planks out of the way, grabbing his sister and Milagro and bringing them out to safety.

"You guys okay?" Gar asked as he returned to his human-mutant form.

"Fine." Milagro and Megan said in unison.

Beast Boy's eyes widened, "Milagro, your forehead is bleeding."

Milagro shrugged, "I won't die. We need to check on The Brain."

Miss Martian nodded in agreement, "Gar, I'll help Milagro. You check on the Brain. I'll set up a link if you need help."

Gar nodded as well, and turned into a cheetah search for the villain.

Miss Martian sat Milagro down, "We don't have the Bioship so we don't have any good medical supplies. Just hold your hand or something with that ring to your forehead and hope the bleeding dies down."

Beast Boy had found the Brain. The Brain's weaponry was destroyed, and it's glass shell was cracked, but it was well active, complaining loudly and swearing it wouldn't give any information as to regarding the Light. Beast Boy picked it up, trying to ignore it's annoying voice.

 _Got him._  he said, though he seemed frustrated.

_Good. We need to get back before G.L. loses too much blood. I'll levitate her and Brain, can you fly?_

_Yeah._  Beast Boy said, then turned into a falcon.

They took off, still having to bear with that annoying voice.

**EASTERN AUSTRALIA**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**8:06 EST**

"This is it?" Robin gave a confused look behind his green mask towards the civilization in front of them.

"Yup," Wonder Girl said, unbuckling her seat belt, "this is the small village in Australia. Now let's go."

The four got into their civilian clothing before venturing into town, where the occasional person walked by with a small child or a dog. There were a few hums of cars and rings as shops from doors opened.

"It's in there." Wonder Girl pointed towards a shop, which read "Benny's Shoes".

"Huh?" Stephanie seemed confused, "A shoe store? Wha-?"

"Quiet, Steph. If Cass says it's in there, it's in there." Damian insisted.

Bonnie smirked a bit.

They casually made their way to a store, as if they were siblings (though Damian stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the blondes) and just wanting to buy new shoes.

"Hello." an old, plump man greeted from behind the counter, "What can I get for ya youngsters?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes before pulling a crossbow out of her jacket and firing it at the old man, and the arrow exploded once it hit his stomach. All three gasped in shock, but then looked back at the man. He was a robot, electrical wires giving of small eletric static.

"Why'd you-" Cassie began,

"I heard a glitch in his voice when he said 'youngsters', it doubled over. Pay more attention." Bonnie growled.

"So this is definitely the place." Stephanie corrected herself.

Robin pulled out a hologram. "I'm tracing the entirety of this building to calculate where they may be."

"English, please?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm downloading a map." Robin replied casually, un-phased by the blonde archer's remark, "Done. There's a door near the bathroom that leads down into the basement. Let's go." The four began to run towards Robin's directions, and Wonder Girl kicked down the door. They soared down the stairs, only to see Klarion humming casually, petting Teekl by a fireplace that was technically impossible to be there based upon the building's structure.

"Oh," he said, almost bored, "Wonder Baby, Birdbrat, Batbrat, and Arrowbrat. Can I see something new for once?" he yawned.

In sync, Robin and Batgirl threw their batarangs/birdarangs at the witch boy, only for them to be stopped by his own personal force field.

"Yawn." he said.

"Hey, Witch Bitch!" Wonder Girl cried out, "Want some of this? Or are you just gonna yawn over there?!"

Klarion laughed, but made his way towards Wonder Girl, Teekl resting on his shoulders. Wonder Girl flew towards him from his left side, only to be knocked out by a ball of energy. Klarion gasped as Teekl let out a painful cry. While he knocking out Wonder Girl, the archer had shot an arrow towards the evil feline. Teekl lay on the ground, shrieking.

"Teekl!" Klarion cried out, and picked up his precious cat, "You murdered my cat!"

"That's _not_ a cat." Stephanie growled.

Teekl turned to black dust, before returning to her healed form. She still seemed rather weak, though.

Klarion growled before snapping his fingers and disappearing with Teekl.

"Well, that was quick." Damian commented.

"Quick, but not easy. I had to get the perfect angle within a matter of seconds to shoot Teekl so it'd be enough where it's effective enough to hurt her, and have Klarion not notice the arrow." Bonnie sighed, and Stephanie picked up the arrow, inspecting it.

"There's no blood." she confirmed, "Yup, not a cat."

The building suddenly shook.

"Shit. It's like we're in Indiana Jones or something." Wonder Girl mumbled, "Come on guys, let's go!"

The four heroes raced out of the building, and then Robin gasped as he felt something crush his left leg. He was only halfway out of the door, close to being to safety, but not close enough. He screamed in pure pain, trying to escape the debris that was falling into the ground. Wonder Girl lifted up the debris and Batgirl grabbed him from underneath, setting him down on the ground.

"That's... bad." she said, looking at Robin's crushed and bleeding leg.

"We need to get back, fast." Arrowette added. Wonder Girl carried the teenage boy back to the invisible jet, where Batgirl and Arrowette tended to him right away, grabbing the necessary medical supplies that were stored inside the jet. Wonder Girl began to take off into the air, speaking into her comm.

"Wonder Girl to Team and League. Klarion was located at the Australian base. We didn't manage to get any information and he escaped. The building collapsed and crushed Robin's leg. We're on our way back."

**U.S.-CANADA BORDER**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**4:09 PCT**

"I'm here. What's this?" Blue asked as his wings folded back into his armor.

"Nothing. That's the problem." Superboy responded, "Can you scan the contents of the building?"

Blue nodded, and after a few seconds, Khaji spoke.

_There is no activity within this building, however, I am detecting a nearby base._

"What?" Blue asked, still confused, then sighed, "Fine, fine. I've been through stuff like this before. We might as well open the door."

Superboy clenched his fists in case there was someone ready to hop out of the building and fight. Blue opened the door. Nothing inside, but a few empty old shelves and a chair against a wall. Carefully, he walked in, Superboy and Wolf behind him. Wolf sniffed the air, then growled.

"What's it, Wolf?" Superboy asked. Wolf picked at the chair, pulling it back with his teeth. Blue and Superboy gasped as the floor slowly began to lower itself towards the ground.

"Should we jump out?" Superboy asked as the floor went even deeper into the ground. It came to a loud sudden halt, and a humongous room was seen, with computer holograms, steel walls, weaponry, and vehicles that looked like they were made for war. There were soldiers everywhere, on computers, guarding, or just sitting down having a cup of coffee. It didn't take long for them to spot the three.

They aimed their weapons right at them.

"Enough." a voice boomed, "Hold your fire."

A man walked forward, his armor standing out from the rest of the soldiers'. Both Blue Beetle and Superboy recognized the man right away. Black Manta.

He spoke once again, "I would like to do the honor of killing them."

He pulled out his water-swords, walking towards the three.

"Especially  _you_." he told Blue Beetle, " _You_  ruined my opportunity for world domination."

"Yeah, well, whatever you're up to now, I'm not afraid to ruin it again!" Blue spat back.

Black Manta laughed, "Oh, you won't."

Wolf charged at the Atlantean, but Black Manta simply tossed him aside. Superboy leaped into the air while Blue Beetle activated his plasma cannon, aiming it directly at the villain. Black Manta's swords turned into whips, and wrapped it around Superboy, using him as a shield. Superboy screamed in pain as he felt the attack hit his back. Black Manta's whips turned back into swords, and Superboy dropped to the ground. He took his right sword, attempting to penetrate the Boy of Steel in his heart, when Conner grabbed the sword, inches away from his chest, and Wolf leaped onto Black Manta, knocking him over. Blue flew over, clenching his fist and about to knock the struggling man unconscious, when Black Manta managed to stab Wolf in the leg, shoving the animal off and causing him to fly back into Blue. Superboy swung a punch at the man, when Black Manta grabbed his fist. Superboy brought up his leg and swung it around towards his head, causing his helmet to crack, and one of the glowing red eyes that the helmet provided to turn off. Blue Beetle was already back, this time directing a sonic attack, causing the Atlantean to stumble and fall over. The soldiers decided that this was enough, and they needed to protect their leader. They started to fire, Blue Beetle shielding Wolf so he wouldn't be effected by the bullets, while Superboy screamed in pain from the burn of the powerful bullets. The soldiers charged forward, and Blue grabbed Wolf and activated his jet pack, flying out quickly, Superboy jumping out by his side. They made their way towards Sphere. Realizing that the soldiers were no longer following them, Blue activated his comm.

"We discovered Black Manta and his soldiers at the North American base."


	4. Chapter 3

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 4TH, 2025**

**22:45 EST**

"So from what I can infer," Miss Martian said, "There's one Light member at each base."

Superboy nodded, glancing at Wolf. From what he had learned, throughout the day, Milagro, Robin, Wolf, had all been injured. They seemed to be taking the pain together, as Milagro rest against Wolf's torso while Robin sat next to them, leg in cast, in a wheelchair. He began to speak,

"Lex Luthor in Asia, Black Manta in North America, Klarion in Australia, Queen Bee in South America, and Brain in Africa. Where's Vandal Savage?"

Miss Martian sighed, "I presume Europe. But it's a big continent... and it's odd that we can't find his base."

"So, Dick has Queen Bee, the Brain, and that one guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"They're all currently in questioning." Miss Martian confirmed, "Raven and Bunker have reported Lex Luthor taking interest in Kid Flash and... Wally."

"Wally?" Superboy and Beast Boy asked in unison.

"Wally." Miss Martian said, "They told me he calls him his 'treasures'."

Superboy narrowed his eyes, his grudge forever on the Reach for taking the life of one of his closest friends.

"Should we share this with the Team?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not now." Miss Martian decided, "We still need more information on who exactly the man Queen Bee was torturing is."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 5TH, 2025**

**7:10 EST**

"He says he's the mayor of Central City." Dick said, cowl pushed back, putting down his water as he sat by the counter in the kitchen of the Watchtower.

"Supergirl, Starfire, and Mary Marvel report Queen Bee demanding to tell her where 'he' is. To which he said, Central City. So it makes sense." Miss Martian responded, "And then Lex Luthor calling Bart and Wally his 'treasures'. Do you think she was referring to Bart?"

"Maybe." Dick said, running a hand through his hair, "We just have to figure out why they're particularly interested in Bart and not Barry."

"You've tried The Lasso of Truth, right? I can also read her mind if that doesn't work." Miss Martian said.

"Earlier today, we tried the Lasso, yes. We also tried Zatanna's spells on her. You're our last hope." Batman replied.

Miss Martian nodded, "Let's get to it then."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 5TH, 2025**

**8:19 EST**

Miss Martian growled in frustration, "There's some sort of... magic block."

Queen Bee laughed from her cell, "Do you really think you can get something out of me, Martian?"

"Magic block..." Dick rubbed his chin, "Should we get Doctor Fate?"

Miss Martian nodded.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 5TH, 2025**

**8:47 EST**

"What'd you learn?" Batman asked the magic user.

Doctor Fate growled in frustration, "This was planned."

"Huh?" Miss Martian asked.

"Queen Bee has had this block for eight years. Klarion The Witch Boy created the block in her mind in the year 2017, and continued to build upon it until it until it was strong enough that it'd take another eight years to remove." Doctor Fate snarled, "They have information of such importance that they are willing to attempt to hide it for eight years in a row."

Miss Martian and Batman's eyes narrowed, glaring at the evil queen.

"What about the Brain?" Batman turned to the Lord of Order.

After a few minutes of pure silence, Doctor Fate's glowing eyes and magic orbs within his hands, he turned back to Batman.

"It is the same situation."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 5TH, 2025**

**22:31 CT**

"Seriously?" Kid Flash asked, grabbing the gun out of the robber's hands, "You don't think I can dodge a bullet?"

The criminal growled, and desperately tried to run away, but Kid Flash caught him with ease. The wail of sirens in the distance got louder for a few seconds before going completely silent, and the footsteps of police officers running out of their cars and towards the criminal. Kid Flash let go as they cuffed the man and took him away, giving him their thanks before leaving.

Kid Flash shrugged, thinking he might as well wrap up for the night. Jaime was spending the night at his parents' house to celebrate his mother's birthday, and Barry was usually busy fathering Don and Dawn, who were in the hero business as well, but only on special occasions. Or maybe they had school the next day. Bart had no idea. Which left him all alone when it came to the hero business in Central City. Turning to stealth mode so anyone walking by wouldn't notice him right away, he climbed on top of the roof of the small building and sat on top of it, looking at the bright lights of the skyscrapers and watching cars pass by, spotting a few Christmas lights that some people haven't bothered to take down. With the exception of a few thieves here and there, it was a pretty peaceful night, and snowflakes gently drifted down onto the city, dusting the ground. The inner child in him made him stick out his tongue and catch them on there. Oh come on, he was Bart. He couldn't help it. The suit helped keep him warm, so it wasn't like he was going to freeze anytime soon. A sudden loud noise was heard. He was confused. It wasn't uncommon for a helicopter to be flying around the city, but not this close. He turned around, and gasped, leaping off of the building before the drone shot a laser-bullet at him, setting the roof of the building on fire. The drone- that drone, it was the same one that killed Black Canary back in August. A fresh feeling of rage filled him, and quickly disappeared as more drones appeared, roughly eight or nine. The message got through his head quickly;  _Run_.

He took off down the street, avoiding cars as he ran, the drones following him, still shooting at him, setting whatever they hit ablaze. Kid Flash could hear car alarms going off and the terrified screams of civilians. He couldn't take these things alone- he was smart enough to avoid trying to fight them by himself, after seeing them kill Black Canary in person. He needed help, from Barry, or Jaime, or better yet, both. He sped throughout the city, a dark black streak behind him (as he was on stealth mode), and no matter how fast he ran, the drones seemed right behind him, soaring through the air. He needed to get out of the city- to prevent any further damage or endanger anymore lives. He took sharp angles, hopped several vehicles, before he was in the suburbs. They were still following him. Perhaps if he broke the sound barrier, he could lose them. He began to move faster and faster, yellow bolts of electricity covering his body more and more often the faster he went. And then it happened. It was loud, and it caused the street below him to crumble underneath each step, houses to be pushed outwards of the circumference of the sound break, destroying anything it could in it's path. He quickly made his way out and into the country, and looked behind him. The drones were gone- good. The sound break must have destroyed them. He slowed to the point where he ran at normal-human speeds, and eventually stopping, placing his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths of air. He needed to contact somebody right away. He then heard the noises- the noises again. The drones were back, seemingly more this time, and the only damage they seemed to suffer were some dents. They all shot at once, so many laser bullets that Bart was barely able to avoid, and he gasped as his comm was blown out by a bullet, barely missing his head. Shit. Smoke spilled out of part of his suit now, and he kept running, and suddenly came upon a house. One of the drones shot at the house, causing a loud explosion, making Bart stumble backwards and fall onto the grass. He looked in horror as the flaming house's debris spilled everywhere, coughing as smoke filled his lungs. A drone dropped onto the ground, spreading what looked legs, as if it were a robotic centipede, and quickly ran towards Bart. Bart stood up, trying to run off, but it was too late. The drone pinned down Bart with one of it's legs, and Bart grunted in the struggle to escape. The drone then spilled out some sort of gas, knocking the speedster unconscious.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 6TH, 2025**

**10:31 EST**

"Stay calm?!" Blue cried hysterically, "How the hell am I supposed to stay calm?!"

"Hermano, enough." Milagro rest a hand on her brother's shoulder, "We don't know the exact situation yet."

"The League is still investigating Bart's trail." Batman added.

Jaime let out what seemed to be a half-cry half-annoyed grunt.

"Come on; let's go sit down." Milagro guided him towards the couch.

"So," Miss Martian said, approaching the young Dark Knight, "Anything new on Queen Bee or The Brain?"

"No." Dick sighed, "We're going to assume here that it's The Light who captured Bart. It only makes sense, as Queen Bee was tormenting Central City's mayor. They want him for something, I can feel it. I just don't know what."

"I've already informed The Team of everything." Miss Martian confirmed, then sighed.

"Megan," Batman said, "You're a fine leader. No one's doubting you because you're having trouble figuring stuff out."

"And I'm supposed to be the mind reader." Megan commented, laughed, but still seemed stressed.

"When I had to take on the role of Batman, I wanted you to become leader. Don't think I'm hesitating that choice." Dick replied.

Miss Martian hugged her friend, muttering a few thank you's to him. Dick separated the hug, turning to Barry, who was at the couch, in grief along with Jaime. Batman approached the scarlet speedster, and sat down next to him, trying to ignore the urge to just hug Jaime forever, who had his face buried in his hands and Milagro attempting to comfort him.

"Barry." he said, and Barry didn't seem to notice the Dark Knight at first, because he seemed surprised when his head snapped towards Dick.

"Sheesh, you're just like Bruce." he let out a sad smile, "What is it that you need?"

"I don't think it's safe for you to be Flash for right now, or for your kids to the the Tornado Twins. If they took Bart, they might take you too." Dick informed.

Barry sighed, "I know."

Batman didn't say anymore. He just patted Barry on the back and pulled up his hologram, hoping for some sort of news.

Nothing.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 7TH, 2025**

**2:23 CT**

It didn't matter how many National Geographic documentaries Jaime watched in his bed. He couldn't sleep- it was as simple as that. Of course, he was tired, but he was too disturbed and worried about his fiance to even think about managing to sleep. He wasn't used to Bart not being there in the apartment. Sometimes, Jaime left for his job, but that was only for a few days at most, but Bart was always here, at home. He hadn't realized how much he missed the speedster attaching to him like a monkey at random times, or waking up in the middle of the night, hearing stirs in the kitchen, only to discover Bart inhaling a bag of Chicken Whizees, to which his excuse always was, "When you start running at the speed of light, you'll understand." He missed Bart being obsessed with watching cute animals on TV, constantly fawning over them, saying how much he'd love to have a pet of his own, and when it came to coffee in the mornings, he missed Bart's over-enthusiasm when he used coffee creamer (to which Jaime would constantly joke "Would you like some coffee with that cream?").

He turned off the TV, and pulled the blankets over his body in an attempt to calm down, immediately tearing up. And yet another thing he missed- Bart burrowing his head into Jaime's chest every night, feeling his soft warm breath, always causing him to relax. Now he didn't have that. It would be one thing if Bart was away for a mission, but it was another thing, Jaime concluded, if Bart was completely gone, and nobody knew where he was. He could be getting tortured, he could be dead, there were so many terrible possibilities that could be happening at this moment and there could be nothing that Jaime could do because he didn't know where the hell Bart was.

Jaime threw off his sheets. He wouldn't be staying in his apartment tonight. He knew exactly where he'd be going.

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 7TH, 2025**

**2:47 PCT**

Knocking on somebody's door at nearly three in the morning wasn't the smartest nor most polite thing to do, but Jaime felt it was for the best. After about six knocks, the door opened, revealing a very tired Artemis, most likely awoken by Jaime's knocks.

"Look, I'm sorry, but-" Jaime began, but Artemis cut him off by dragging him inside, and closing the door. She hugged the young man right away, and before he knew it, he was spilling out tears he had been holding all night.

"It's okay, it's okay, let it all out." Artemis said, guiding him over to the kitchen table, sitting him down in a chair. She pulled out her own, and folded her fingers together.

"Don't think you disturbed any of my sleep- I haven't got any either." Artemis told the young man.

"Do Irey and Jai know?" Jaime asked.

"Know what?" a voice came from the hallway. There, stood Irey and Jai, next to each other.

"Why is uncle Jaime crying?" Jai asked.

"We're having a grown-up talk, go back to bed. You two have school tomorrow." Artemis told her children. They groaned, but went back to their room.

"So I'll take that as a no?" Jaime asked.

"No, they'd be devastated. I just can't bring myself to do that." Artemis admitted, "I don't want to lose another, no-"

"What's up?" Jaime asked, curious as to why his friend stopped mid-sentence.

"Jaime, your armor's active." she pointed out.

Jaime looked down at his body. She was right. Every part of his body was covered in his armor except for the head piece.

"Sorry." he apologized, pulling the armor back.

"Let's talk on the porch. I don't want Irey or Jai overhearing us." Artemis suggested. Jaime nodded in agreement, and the two went onto the porch, sitting on the small rocking-bench upon it, first talking about Bart's disappearance, then onto irrelevant things, such as the weather, or how Artemis' kids were doing in school. Getting away from the topic of Bart helped Jaime relax, and being near a close friend helped along with that. Jaime eventually yawned, and Artemis offered to let him sleep on her couch.

"Can you wake me up for work tomorrow? I have to be up by seven... as in... seven here. Nine in Central City." Jaime asked as he grabbed a blanket and relaxed on the couch. Artemis simply nodded and went off to bed.

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 7TH, 2025**

**8:02 PCT**

Jaime's blinked a few times before opening his eyes completely. He could see, in the kitchen, Irey and Jai eating breakfast, and Artemis pouring herself a cup of coffee. Jaime peeled off his blanket and made his way towards the kitchen.

Irey took one look at him before bursting out into laughter, saying "Bedhead!" between giggles. Artemis seemed to let out an amused chuckle as well. Jaime read the clock on the stove. It was an hour past seven.

"Amiga, you were supposed to wake me up an hour ago." Jaime said, his voice tinted with hints of annoyance.

"Both you and I knew you weren't going to make it to work today. Want coffee?" Artemis asked, gesturing towards the coffee maker.

The question seemed to throw Jaime off-guard at first, but then he nodded, and Artemis handed him a mug to which he poured himself some coffee. He headed towards the fridge, but couldn't find any creamer.

"I'm a person who likes her coffee all black. Sorry." Artemis apologized, sitting next to her children at the table.

"That's fine." Jaime said, taking the milk from the table and pouring it in his mug, taking slow sips.

"Jaime?" Jai asked.

Jaime set down his mug, "Yes?"

"Why'd you come here last night?"

Jaime was silent, and so was Artemis. Would now have to be the time to tell the two kids?

"I'll tell you after school." Artemis finally replied.

That didn't seem to bother the children, and they finished up their breakfast, changed, brushed their teeth, and eventually the bus arrived, and Artemis waved as they boarded the large yellow vehicle before taking off.

"Do you need to stay any longer?" Artemis asked, cleaning off the kitchen table.

"No- I'm fine. Thank you, Artemis."

Artemis smiled,

"It isn't a problem."

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 7TH, 2025**

**15:57 PCT**

"So what were you going to tell us, mom?" Jai asked as he plopped his backpack down onto the floor.

Artemis shifted uncomfortably, but knew the day would have to come eventually, and there wasn't any way she was escaping those pleading stares from her kids.

"Look," she began, "Uncle Bart is missing, but-"

"What?!" they said in unison.

"It's only been a few days. We don't know where he is or what happened to him, but that's why uncle Jaime was here last night." Artemis explained as easily as possible.

"Is that why he was crying?" Irey asked.

Artemis nodded, "He feels better now, he was just scared. We're all scared, but it'll be okay in the end."

"Are we gonna find him?" Jai piped in.

Artemis looked away from her children for a few seconds before coming up with an answer,

"Honestly, Jai... we don't know. But we can't give up on him now. Just remember that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This note is irrelevant, but when I went to copy this story from fanfiction, I ended up pasting the lyrics to "Innocent High" by Blood On The Dance Floor in the chapter text... what the fuck?


	5. Chapter 4

**ANTARCTICA**

**JANUARY 9TH, 2025**

**12:00 EST**

He awoke, cold. He must have been out here for hours, as his suit would no longer provide him heat. It didn't take him long to realize that he was all alone- where did everybody go? How many hours had passed? Why had they just left him behind?

_"Just tell them, okay?"_

The memory came soaring back to the redhead speedster. He had disappeared. Was it possible that everybody thought he was dead and then it took him a while to reappear? He needed to find out. He just needed to find his way home. Pulling up his hologram, he opened a GPS, setting it to bring him to the nearest Zeta Tube. A new window popped up.

ZETA TUBES OFFLINE DUE TO EXTREME WEATHERS.

Wally tried activating his comm, but it was obviously broken.

He was annoyed, yes, but didn't think this would be a big problem. He'd simply run out of Antarctica, across the ocean, through South America, cross the ocean again, and be back into the states. It'd take him a few days, though. He set the GPS to lead him to Palo Alto, where he could find Artemis.

The speedster checked his glove compartment. Three protein bars. Good. He would save them for later. For now, he needed to run. The speedster took off, snow flying into the air behind him. The weather here was severe and it was obvious a blizzard was coming, which pushed him to go faster. After about roughly four hours, he was at the edge of Antarctica, facing the ocean. He gulped down one of his protein bars, and began to run across the water, making sure to go fast enough so he wouldn't fall in. It was surprisingly quick- about twenty minutes, before he reached land. He continued to run until his body demanded him to stop. His GPS told him he was in the middle of Argentina, in a place called La Pampa. The place was flat and open to the sky, almost reminding him of his home. His stomach growled, and he knew he would have to eat more than just a protein bar to keep his body going the next day. There weren't any houses in sight, and after a few-minute break, he kept continuing to run, until he found a farm, and could see fruits and vegetables growing in the field. He sped up, grabbing whatever he could find and gulped it down. He felt bad, stealing somebody's crops, but he needed it to go on.

After he was satisfied with his meal, he decided that he'd spend the rest of his time resting. Finding a large tree, he curled up underneath it.

**LA PAMPA**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**5:54 EST**

He awoke, cold. Again. Wally checked to see if the Zeta Tubes were still down, and to his bad luck, they were. He ate a few more crops before taking off once more. He spent hours speeding across the continent, about five, before stopping once again.

He was on the edge of South America. He sighed with relief, knowing that soon, he'd be home. He ate a protein bar, and sped across the ocean once more (roughly an hour and a half trip), coming across a few islands before he reached Florida.

**FLORIDA**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**13:32 EST**

It wasn't everyday that a man in a yellow and red costume ran from the ocean and onto a busy Florida beach. The entire beach went silent as they saw Wally make his way onto the sand. His stomach growled once more, and he growled back at it in annoyance. He ignored the stares he received from the people, and sped across the sandy beach before entering the city, receiving more odd looks. He eventually came across a hot dog stand and soared towards it, where a confused man stood.

"Sir, I have no money." Wally explained, "But please, I need something to eat."

"K-Kid Flash?" the man asked, not thinking the redhead was just some impersonator, as he saw him rapidly approach his stand.

"Yes, that's me. Please, I have a super metabolism and will die soon without food." Wally confirmed.

With unease, the man started to make him a hot dog, to which he said, "Weird. I thought your hair was brown."

Wally seemed confused, but took the hot dog once the man finished and gulped it down, asking for three more before finally thanking the man and leaving.

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**16:57 PCT**

This was it. He was here. He knocked on the door rapidly, hoping to be let in. But there was nothing.

"Artemis?" he called, but there was no answer, not even the obnoxious bark of their dog.

There weren't any keys available, so he couldn't get inside, nor could he vibrate through- he wasn't fast enough. He didn't have his phone on him- nothing. Wally checked his GPS- of course, the Zeta Tubes were back online now. He could go to the Watchtower, yes, but he decided it was best to wait for Artemis. He was about to sit down on the porch, when he noticed that it had changed as well. The two white chairs were gone and were replaced by a bench. Perhaps Artemis thought it was appropriate to change the porch furniture after he "died"... or something like that. He sat on the bench, impatiently waiting for his girlfriend to get home, when he heard the hum of a car, and saw it pull into the driveway. That was Artemis' car. Ecstatic, he got up, standing outside the front door, waiting for Artemis to enter through the garage before knocking again. Once he heard stirring in the house, he knocked.

"One second!" a voice said from behind the door. Artemis' voice. That beautiful voice.

The door swung open. Artemis' eyes widened, and she gasped, stumbling backwards.

"Babe, calm down." Wally said, walking in.

"Wha-what the fuck?!" she exclaimed, hyperventilating.

"I know, I know, I've probably been gone for a few days but but-"

"What's wrong?" Irey asked, running up to her mother, Jai on her tail.

"Who's this man and why is he wearing Bart's costume?" Jai asked.

Wally was silent for a few seconds, "Bart's costume?" he asked. He then realized that Bart probably became Kid Flash after he "died". Then it hit him. Who were these two little kids in his house?

"Oh my god." Artemis let out a sharp exhale, balancing herself on a small table.

"Artemis... who are they?" Wally asked.

"Wally... what year is it?" she asked.

Wally was confused by the question, but answered, "Uh... last time I checked... 2016."

She began to hyperventilate again, and then started to cry, falling down to her knees. She then managed to get up, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend, crying hysterically.

"I missed you too, babe." Wally said warmly, "I know it might have been a few days, or maybe even months, and you probably thought I was dead but-"

Jai and Irey stood in silence.

"Wally..." Artemis sniffed, "You died eight and a half years ago."

Wally's eyes widened.

"No..." he said, not realizing that he had separated himself from his lover, "No, no, no, no, it couldn't have been that long. No..."

"Wally, those are our kids." Artemis explained, crying happily, "I was pregnant and didn't even know. We have kids, babe!"

Wally froze, staring at the two children before him. The girl was pretty much a female version of him, but much younger. Fiery red hair and bright green eyes, and tons of freckles. The boy had dirty blonde hair and grey eyes like his mother.

Wally knelt down, to be at an equal height of his children. He smiled,

"Hi guys. I'm the Wallman. And your dad."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**18:12 EST**

"Manly tears, dude. Manly tears." Wally smiled as his best friend hugged him and cried just as dramatically as Artemis. Dick separated the hug, eyes red, before hugging his redhead friend again, squeezing him tighter.

"Crushing- me." Wally let out.

"Sorry." Dick apologized, and let Wally go.

"So I see that you're the Bat now." Wally said, pointing at the bat symbol on Dick's chest.

Dick laughed, "Yeah. Guess so."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**19:27 EST**

It seems Wally had been reunited with every hero- with the exception of the dead (he was shown the holograms of the dead; he even saw his own). He was introduced to the new heroes as well. Even Bruce Wayne in his forever-injured state came up to the Watchtower to see the speedster. It was all cheer and happiness, until he asked, "Where's Bart?"

The entire room went silent.

"Did he-"

"No." Dick said, "He's just missing." he could see Jaime kicking his foot in unease.

"Oh?" Wally asked, a hint of concern in his voice, "When?"

"Just a five days ago, actually." Batgirl said.

Uneasy as well as Jaime, Dick said, "So anyways-"

"Do you have any idea what happened to him?" Wally asked.

The room grew more tense, and Dick approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder, saying, "We need to talk."

Wally was confused, and slightly terrified, but nodded, following his friend as he guided his friend away.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**20:02 EST**

Wally didn't speak after that explanation, until he brought up the question.

"So he's Kid Flash now, huh?"

Dick nodded, "Leaguer too."

Wally shifted, running a hand through his hair before deciding to stand up. He walked out of the room he and Dick were in, and saw quiet conversation between the heroes. Where was Blue Beetle? He knew that Blue was probably just as worried sick as himself, because hell, Bart was the guy who came back to the past to save him. After scanning the room for a bit, he saw him sitting on the couch, in some sort of conversation with his little sister. Wally approached carefully, and leaned over the couch.

"Uh, hey... dude." Wally said, trying not to cringe at his own awkwardness.

"Hi." Jaime replied, and Wally realized he was covered in his armor, resting his elbows on his legs, staring at the ground. Well, Wally was right, to say the least. Milagro hugged her brother before leaving.

"Uh... okay... er... I can understand what it feels like, to uh... be worried for a close friend..." Wally sat down on the couch next to Jaime, "I just wanted to say that I get it that-"

"Bart's my fiance." Jaime said simply, still not moving.

Wally seemed taken back by this, and then realized he probably should have seen that coming. He was quiet for a few seconds, "Oh, uh, is he? That's great, I guess- I mean, that's great. When's your uh, wedding?"

He could see Jaime narrow his eyes.

 _Shit! Wally, you fucking dumb ass!,_ Wally thought, his mind racing, trying to change the subject quickly, "I think, we'll, uh, find him?"

Jaime sighed, "Hope so."

Yeah. Wally didn't think that helped that much.

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 10TH, 2025**

**23:49 PCT**

"I love you." Wally smiled and kissed his girlfriend.

"I love you too, and the amazing sex we just had." Artemis giggled, "I have work tomorrow, though. Sorry."

"That's fine, babe." Wally replied.

Artemis kissed her boyfriend one more time before turning off the lamp on her nightstand.

Wally just smiled. What a life he missed. He had a family, and his friends he knew were Leaguers, adults with successful lives. Megan and Conner were back together, and there were new young heroes to carry on the weight of being covert operatives. Though he still couldn't wash away the feeling of guilt that swept over him when he acted like a total ass in front of Jaime, and he definitely couldn't wash away the feeling of worry for Bart. What did Bart look like, now, anyways? Taller, probably. Maybe a bit more muscular. But nobody had dramatically changed when it came to looks. Jaime had longer hair, Miss Martian had hair that was a little longer now than he last remembered it, and Conner? Well, Conner always looked exactly the same. He was sad to learn his former den-mother was killed, but knew that Black Canary would want to die in a such a way- with honor. And Jay? He lived a good, long, life. Wally himself didn't know the original Roy Harper that well, but was still sad to hear he died. Wally wondered where he was for the past nearly-nine years. Did he just not exist and suddenly exist? It didn't make sense.

_Preserving energy for an extended amount of time..._

Wally seemed alarmed by this sudden odd voice in his head, but shrugged it off. He was tired and had a very long day.

He closed his eyes- it didn't matter now. Right now he was with the love of his life, and that's all he needed at the moment.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 16TH, 2025**

**8:04 EST**

He awoke. This time not cold, but groggy.

"Wha-" he began, but he felt a finger to his lips. Dick was standing there, concern in his blue eyes.

"Wally, you've been asleep for at least three days."

"Huh?" Wally seemed confused, "Where am I?"

"The Watchtower." Dick confirmed.

"Shit, then I guess I gotta get home then." Wally said, making his way off of what appeared to be a hospital bed, but Dick gently pushed him back down.

"No. You're dehydrated and need something to eat." Dick commanded.

"You're not my mom." Wally grumbled, about to take the IVs that he found in his wrist when Dick swatted him.

"No, I'm not." Dick said in a dark voice, "I'm Batman."

"Fair enough." Wally sighed, and lay back down in his bed, "Where's Artemis?"

Dick rubbed the back of his neck, "We... don't know."

"What do you mean?" Wally asked, narrowing his eyes.

"When neither you or Artemis reported to the Watchtower for two days, nor answered any calls, we decided to enter your house ourselves." Dick confessed, then seemed as if he didn't want to speak any longer.

"And then?" Wally asked.

"And then, you were asleep in your bed, but both Artemis and your kids were gone. We tried contacting her however we could, and she wouldn't answer. We tried to wake you up as well. After about ten minutes we knew that you could potentially be in a coma, so we brought you to the Watchtower." Dick explained, and sighed.

"So they're... gone?" Wally asked, surprisingly calm, "All three?"

Dick nodded uneasily.

Wally threw his head back and let out his inner concern and frustration out, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Wally, please-"

"Did you find Bart yet?"

"No, but-"

Another scream of frustration was heard.

Wonder Woman and Green Arrow burst in the room.

Wonder Woman began to speak, "Batman, what's wrong?"

"Wally." Dick replied simply, and grabbed his friend's hand. He could see tears forming in his friend's eyes, and slowly spilling down his cheeks.

"They're taking away everyone I love!" he exclaimed, "Who's next? Barry? Iris? Mom and dad?"

"Wally, we don't know if the same people who took Artemis and your kids are the same people who took Bart." Dick informed.

Wally sighed, continuing to cry.

Green Arrow approached the opposite bedside from Batman's, resting a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"I need time alone." Wally told them, "Please, go."

"You sure?" Dick asked.

Wally nodded and sniffled.

Hesitantly, the three heroes left, Dick looking at his best friend one last time with those blue eyes before pulling his cowl over his head, and becoming the Batman once more.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 11TH, 2025**

**3:33 EST**

"What is  _that_?" the man demanded, pointing at the blonde unconscious woman slung over the solider's shoulder.

"I didn't know whether you wanted her or not." the solider confessed, "I know she's not a meta, but-"

"Exactly! I don't want her! Give her to R.H. She's useless to us." the man snarled, "Now, hand me the children."

"Yes, sir." the man obeyed, handing the small twin children to his master, "What of him?" he pointed at the young man in the tube.

"His metagene has been deactivated due to the transportation. We are attempting to regain it." the man said, "Now go."

"Yes, sir."


	6. Chapter 5

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 16TH, 2025**

**10:13 PCT**

An empty house was all he walked into. He brewed himself some coffee, and sat down at the kitchen table. Usually, he'd pretty much dump the entire bottle of creamer into his coffee, but for some reason, he just drank it black, taking slow, quiet sips.

Maybe he could stay with his parents or something, anything, to get some company.

But what if they disappeared too?

He was alarmed by the knock on his front door, and spilled coffee on his shirt. He grumbled in frustration, but he went to answer the door anyways, not caring about making himself clean for whoever was on the other side. The door squeaked as he pulled it open.

"Oh. Hey."

"Uh... yeah, this is kind of awkward, but, when my mom heard the news of you being in a coma or whatever you were in, she immediately went to make you cookies, telling me to give them to you when you woke up. So..." Jaime gestured a plastic bin towards of cookies to Wally, "Here."

"Oh. Thanks." Wally said.

"...Can I come in?" Jaime asked.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Wally said, opening the door wider to let the Hispanic man into his now less-empty home.

Wally set down the cookies on the kitchen table, and sat down himself, continuing to sip at his coffee.

"Still don't have creamer?" Jaime asked.

"Huh?" Wally said in response.

"The day I found out Bart went missing, I spent the night here." Jaime explained, "In the morning, when your kids were getting ready for school, Artemis made coffee. I looked for creamer. She didn't have any."

"Oh. Um, no, I'm usually a creamer-maniac," Wally laughed, setting down his mug, "But today I didn't feel like having any."

"Bart was... is a creamer maniac." Jaime laughed somewhat, but the sadness on his face was obvious, "Is it a speedster thing?"

Wally shrugged, "Maybe." then said, "Look, uh... I'm gonna shower. You can stay and watch TV or something, and then we can uh... drown in each other's misery, I guess."

Jaime had a blank facial expression before saying, "Uh... okay."

Wally left to shower, and Jaime made his way to the couch and turned on the TV, which was immediately on the news channel, Gordon Godfrey's face popping up immediately. God, Jaime hated that guy. He changed the channel immediately before he had to hear what Godfrey had to say. After a few minutes of flipping channels, Wally walked out, finally clean. He sped over to the kitchen table and grabbed the platter of cookies, and took a place on the couch next to Jaime, quickly crunching at the treats.

"Tell your mom I said thanks by the way." he said, food full in his mouth. After a few more cookies, he set the platter down on the coffee table, then hesitated for a few seconds.

"If you're gonna ask something, then just ask it." Jaime said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Holy fuck, that guy was a mind reader.

"I didn't want to upset you." Wally said, putting his feet on the coffee table as well.

"You won't." Jaime reassured.

"I was just wondering when you two... got together." Wally said.

"About a month after you... uh... died." Jaime sighed, obviously confused with his vocabulary, "So it's been like... eight or nine years."

"How'd that happen?" Wally asked.

"He kissed me during the middle of an interview with Cat Grant." Jaime laughed a little, "Wasn't expecting that."

"That's... interesting." Wally said, "So you just went along with it or what?"

"Yep. I had a big fat crush on him anyways." Jaime replied simply, and laughed a bit at the memory.

"Artemis and I kissed on New Year's Day in 2011, in the Watchtower. Well, that was our first kiss." Wally explained, "I miss her."

"We all do, hermano." Jaime sighed once again, quickly changing the subject, "Have you met Don and Dawn yet?"

Wally seemed confused at first, "Who?"

"Barry and Iris' kids." Jaime explained.

"Oh!" Wally realized, "No, I haven't."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 16TH, 2025**

**15:34 CT**

It was kind of hard explaining to two nine-year old Kids that Wally disappeared before they were even born, and then reappeared, and was the father of their cousins, Irey and Jai.

They seemed ecstatic to meet him, though. At first, Wally expected two speedsters like himself, but it turns out that when they run fast enough, a tornado funnels around their bodies below their torsos. He thought that was rather strange, but was happy too meet the two as well.

"I'm glad you're back to normal." Barry rest his elbow on Wally's shoulder, "Have you seen your parents yet? Since the day at the Watchtower?"

"No." Wally admitted, "I don't want to see them."

Jaime, Iris, and Barry all seemed to have concerned-confused look on their faces.

"Why is that?" Iris asked.

Wally looked down, "I'm just scared that if I stay at their house or something... they'll disappear too. Which is why if you offer to let me stay the night, my answer is no."

Barry frowned, "Alright then."

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 16TH, 2025**

**17:11 PCT**

"Y'know, kid, you're not all that bad." Bonnie smiled as she sat on the top of the building with Lian.

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome." Lian giggled.

"Did Red tell you that your aunt and cousins were kidnapped?" Bonnie asked, "I've been trying to locate them to the best of my ability, but-"

Lian was confused, "I don't have an aunt."

Arrowette raised an eyebrow, "Your mother is Jade Nguyen, right?"

"Yeah, and Roy Harper is my dad." Speedy said, "My mom doesn't have any brothers or sisters."

"Yes she does." Arrowette was even more confused now.

"Who?" Lian demanded.

"Artemis Crock. Your dad never told you about Wally returning and then Artemis, Irey, and Jai, disappearing?" Arrowette asked.

"No?" Lian asked, "I don't know who any of them are!"

Arrowette seemed concerned now. Had Red Arrow really hidden all of this information from his child? Sure, she was young, but she had a right to know.

"Look." Arrowette said, sighing, "Your mother has a sister named Artemis Crock. Artemis Crock's children, are Irey and Jai West, and Wally West is their father. He disappeared for nearly nine years before returning. Nobody knows why."

"Is he the Flash guy who died from the chrysalis?" Speedy asked.

Bonnie nodded.

"So, I have cousins. Huh." Speedy growled, "I don't know why mom or dad would hide that from me."

"Me either, kid." Arrowette commented.

Speedy looked down at the ground below the building, "So... I have never met my cousins, and they're missing now."

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Arrowette apologized.

"Don't say 'sorry' for anything." Speedy commanded, "You don't have to."

She remembered, one day, a few years back, her mother telling her how important it is to family to stick together, and that's why they always kept her close. Lian tried to ignore the obvious irony in Jade's statement, but instead, follow the message.

 _Well, mom,_ she began to think,  _if family ties are so important, then I'm going to find them._

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 16TH, 2025**

**16:13 CT**

"Small place." Wally commented when he first walked in.

"It's not the best, but we're... hoping to get a house by next year." Jaime said uncomfortably, "Or at least that's what we talked about before he went missing."

"Surprisingly tidy as well. Lemme guess. You make him clean up his messes?" Wally asked, plopping himself down on the couch and turning on the TV.

"...Yeah. How'd you know?" Jaime asked.

"Artemis made me do the same thing." Wally laughed, "She'd always boss me around. But I didn't mind."

"Yeah, when it comes to my own living place, I'm a huge neat freak. Anyways, Both the Team and the League are investigating the spot where Bart was taken. They're gonna call me if they know anything."

Wally frowned. It's been nearly two weeks since Bart's disappearance, and he could tell that it was killing Jaime from the inside-out.

"Do you wanna stay the night here?" Jaime asked out of the blue.

"No." Wally said, "I already explained back at the Allens' house."

"You don't know what happened. A door could have been unlocked or something, or a broken window. I'll make sure everything's secure." Jaime promised.

Wally sighed uncomfortably.

"Please, hermano? It's not like you have a job or anything." Jaime pointed out.

Wally realized that Jaime probably missed having somebody around- he couldn't blame the guy. Before he moved in his house with Artemis, he lived in a small apartment by himself for about six months, and absolutely hated being alone. He wished somebody, Artemis, Dick, or whatever, someone he knew, could have lived with him at the time, but Artemis was busy with college in Star City.

"Fine." Wally gave in, "As long as you have coffee creamer."

"Yeah, I do." Jaime laughed, "Since Bart hasn't been here for a while... I have like, ten bags of Chicken Whizees just sitting around. If you want some-"

"Hell yes!"

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 17TH, 2025**

**3:37 CT**

He gasped for air, scarab's armor covering his body instinctively. He then suddenly let out a loud exhale as he felt something puncture through his armor and into his back. The armor pulled back into the scarab, and he screamed in pain, only to hear something had covered his mouth. A hand. He cried for Wally, screaming for him to help. But they were all muffled by the hand. He squirmed in the grasp, but stopped suddenly, a shiver going down his spine as he felt a cold piece of metal touch his neck.

"Keep quiet." whatever was behind him muttered.

"Who are you?" Jaime muffled bravely underneath the hand.

A small chuckle was heard, and then the mysterious person removed the blade from Jaime's neck. Jaime sighed in relief, but then felt something hit the back of his head. He let out a shriek, still muffled by the hand, and fell onto his bed face-first. He was dizzy, but not unconscious. He flipped himself over, to face his attacker, pulling off their hand. His eyes widened. Between his fuzzy vision, he could see the figure of...

"What the fuck are you?" he rasped quietly, trying to remain conscious.

"Something new and improved." the figure growled, and it took one more hit to the head to knock Jaime out.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 17TH, 2025**

**12:09 CT**

Throwing the blankets off of him, Wally woke up. Thankfully for him, Jaime's apartment had a surprisingly comfortable couch. He looked around for the Hispanic man, but he was nowhere to be found. He might have been asleep, or more likely, at work. He brewed himself a mug of coffee, dumping a bunch of creamer into the mug as well, and sipped at it. If Wally had a phone, he'd try to contact Jaime, but right now he felt it was best to just relax. After finishing his coffee and debating which side of the sink he should put the mug in, he walked into Jaime's room to check if he was there. Nope. He knocked on the bathroom door, and there was no answer. Yeah, probably left for work. Of course, Wally probably should have left for his own home, when a thought hit him.

What if Jaime had been taken just like the others?

No, that didn't make sense. Both of them had double-checked the locks and Jaime promised to lock his bedroom door for Wally. Wally began to panic. No, there's no way.

He sped over to the kitchen again, checking the sink. There were no other dishes besides the mug he put in, and surely Jaime would have eaten breakfast before he left for work? No... maybe he just decided to clean his dishes before he left, and decided to dry off the sink too, or maybe over the course of a few hours, depending on when he left, the sink just dried (there wasn't a place for a dishwasher, so Jaime could only wash his dishes in the sink). He sped back into the bathroom. The shower was completely dry, and there wasn't any clothes on the floor either. Yet again, maybe Jaime decided to take his clothes to the laundromat in the apartment of the basement or something, or a place down the street, because from what Wally could tell, this apartment didn't have a washer or dryer, and then put his clothes away. Maybe he decided not to take a shower this morning, because the shower was completely dry as well, like he noticed before, or maybe it faced the same situation as the sink. He went back to the bedroom. That was the place that seemed off. The sheets were a complete mess and untidy.

It didn't piece together. Why would Jaime wash his dishes, clean his clothes, but not decide to make the bed before work? Maybe he didn't have time? But that didn't make sense, because the place he wakes up everyday, like most people, is in his bed, and if he were to go all neat-freak (like he said he was the previous day), the first thing he would do is make his bed, right? Since it's right there. Or maybe he was so hungry that the first thing he thought of when he woke up was making breakfast, then cleaned the dishes, and then showered, and saw his dirty clothes on the floor, and thought, "I should wash these"? And by the time he did all of that, he realized his bed wasn't made, and didn't have the time to fix it before work?

Wally sighed and sat back down on the couch. He was thinking too much. That could be true. That was probably true. There is no way that somebody would be able to kidnap Jaime, no. He had superpowers- kind of. Anyways, yeah. He would be able to escape anybody who tried to kidnap him in his own house. Yet again, Irey and Jai had superpowers, but they were children- but they still had super speed and could escape, right? How fast could they even go anyways? And Artemis had peak-human strength, speed, and fighting skills, and would be able to give a fight to anyone who tried to take her. And how could someone take his girlfriend, who was sleeping next to him, and not manage to wake him up? Maybe Artemis decided to go to the kitchen and get a drink of water, or something, and then the intruder decided to take her there?

Hell, how did he even know Artemis, Irey, and Jai, were kidnapped? What if they left and went into hiding because, what if, in the middle of the night, Artemis thought, 'What if this wasn't really Wally?' and got terrified, and left, with her kids?

Wally groaned, walking towards the kitchen, looking through the cabinets to find anything that could relieve the headache that just came upon him. There were too many possibilities; too many scenarios- for him to handle. He eventually found Aspirin and popped one of the pills in his mouth, pouring himself a glass of water and swallowing the pill before putting the medication back and the glass in the sink. He sat down at the kitchen table, and continued to think.

If Jaime had truly just left for work, why wouldn't he wake up Wally and tell him he was leaving? Or offer him coffee when he got up to eat breakfast, or hell, offer him breakfast? Jaime never mentioned anything about work the previous night. Maybe he just forgot to mention it, and didn't notice Wally on the couch when he left, forgot he was there, or just didn't want to disturb his sleep.

So many questions- so many possibilities.

And definitely not nearly enough answers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unless something happens, the entire story should be uploaded by July 20th. Tim Drake's unofficial-14th-birthday! Wish him a happy one. :)


	7. Chapter 6

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 17TH, 2025**

**14:09 EST**

"Hey, Wally. How was your day yesterday?" Mary Marvel asked politely as she approached the redhead.

"It was fine, thanks... Mary. That's your name, right?" Wally asked.

Mary giggled, "Yup."

Wally smiled at the enthusiasm of the teenage girl, and walked over to catch up with the rest of the Team. Milagro, Jaime's sister, approached him.

"Have you seen Jaime? Batman told me he was supposed to report for a mission ten minutes ago."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "No... why?"

"Well, I remember telling my mom about your coma. She insisted that she make something for you, and she did. I saw her calling Jaime, telling Jaime to come over to bring the cookies to you a few days ago. I assumed that you knew where he was." Milagro explained.

"No, I spent the night at his apartment yesterday, though. I thought he went to work." Wally confessed.

"Well, he's not that great of a hero if he decides that work is more important than the mission he  _promised_  to attend to today." Batman scowled, joining in on the conversation.

Wally immediately spilled. He spilled everything, about his fear of people disappearing, and how suspicious it was that Jaime had no dishes or dirty laundry, but an unmade bed. He confessed he wouldn't have spent the night at Jaime's house until he realized how lonely the man was.

"Hmm." Lagoon Boy said, crossing his arms, "Am I the only one who finds it weird that his girlfriend and his kids disappear when he sleeps at the house they live in, and then Blue disappears when he sleeps at his apartment?"

"You think  _I_  took them?!" Wally clenched his fists, "You fucking-  _I'm fucking worried sick! For all of them!_ "

The screaming of Wally attracted the attention of both Leaguers and Team members.

Dick began to speak, "Wally, calm dow-"

"How do we even know this guy is who he claims to be?! Suddenly he reappears one day, out of nowhere, and then he comes back and everyone's so happy that they don't give a fuck on how he's back, they're just happy he is! How do we know he's  _actually_  Kid Flash?! For all we know, he can be a clone from the Light, programmed with the drive to destroy us! Just like Red Arrow was!" Lagoon Boy shouted.

Wally couldn't hold back his anger. With swift speed, he punched the green Atlantean square in the face, the impact knocking him back and causing him to fall on the floor.

The entire Watchtower went silent. Red Robin grabbed Lagoon Boy and helped him to his feet.

"La'gaan," Batman began, "I can understand as to why you think that, but that's impossible. The chrysalis absorbed him. There's no way the Light could have gotten him."

La'gaan snarled in response. Wally stood still. And then, instantly, he took off, the Zeta Tubes recognizing him, and he disappeared.

**INTERSTATE EIGHTY**

**JANUARY 17TH, 2025**

**13:13 EST**

He sat on the side of the highway, watching cars zip pass and feeling snow land on his head and shoulders. He didn't know why he was here, honestly. There were literally a million other places he could go. He laughed a little. No, there wasn't. Barry or Bart could run across the country within a matter of thirty minutes, yet it took him two and a half hours to three hours. What good was he, anyways? Why did he come back? How did he come back? Was he a clone? Was Lagoon Boy right? Was he just angry because he knew it was true and just didn't want it to be true?

 _You're doing it again, West._  he thought.

He just wanted everything to be okay. He wanted to know that all of his friends and family were safe and happy and weren't going through such tough times.

 _Then fix it._ he thought. But how could he? He had no idea as to why Bart, Irey, Jai, Artemis and Jaime disappeared. He wanted to fix it  _so badly_. But there was nothing he could do.

He tried to retrace his steps, or at least in some sort of way.  _Okay_ , he thought,  _I returned five days after Bart went missing, and that day was January 10th, so that means he went missing on January 5th or in the early hours of January 6th. Artemis, Irey, and Jai disappeared the day I returned, so they either disappeared on the tenth or early eleventh. Jaime disappeared on the sixteenth or seventeenth, today. It seems to be a five day time span between each..._

Or maybe he was just overthinking that. He tried to think again.

Bart, from what he heard, was running from Central City, and from witness reports, was chased by drones or as some children described as "flying robots with laser guns". He saw the damage within the city from the lasers' impacts, and of course, Bart was trying to avoid the bullets. He ran out of the city, in the suburbs, and to the country, running fast enough to cause damage to houses and the street below his feet. When he got to the country, a house exploded, most likely from a drone, to which he was kidnapped, never seen again. From camera images and video recordings from bystanders of surveillance cameras, it appears that the drones are products of the Light, the same ones that killed Black Canary but it cannot be confirmed until further testing. However, they have sent the Team back to the bases and questioned The Brain as well as Queen Bee, to which they wouldn't cooperate (of course), and that stupid magic block not allowing them to get answers. The bases, when the Team arrived, were empty, none of the other Light members to be seen. They had all reported seeing one Light member at each base, except for one- Vandal Savage.

Now what would he be up to?

It suddenly hit Wally. Why would they take Bart, and then suddenly, a few days later, he reappeared into the world again?

Where was he for the past eight years of his life?!

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 17TH, 2025**

**4:55 EST**

"I have the Jaime Reyes you requested, master." the solider said, handing the unconscious body to his master.

"Excellent... now I want more kinetic energy. The twins are simply not enough to transport everyone and everything back." the master told him, "Give me the Flash, and now that we know we have his own children... I want the children as well."

"Sir, I'm not sure if I will be able to do that." the solider confessed.

"Why not?" the man asked.

"It would be rather challenging... and one of them may manage to escape. I wish to wait until Jaime Reyes is back... on mode."

"We are not sure if we will be able to get him back on mode, Red. It may require our partner's assistance." the man explained,

"But I suppose you are correct. I shall give you time, but if we cannot put him back on mode by ourselves, you must face the problem alone. Now leave me to my work. There is much to be done."

"Of course, sir."

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 11TH, 2025**

**15:05 EST**

"Had enough yet?" the worker laughed, his dark black hair flopping over his forehead.

"Y-yes." Bart admitted, wiping the blood off of his nose.

"Mmm, well I haven't." the worker laughed, kicking the brown-haired man in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood.

Bart let out a cry of pain as yet another swing was taken to his stomach, "Just fucking kill me." he pleaded.

"Now why would I want to do that?" the worker's laugh boomed, "We will do whatever it takes to get your metagene back."

"Why? Why would you want to give me my powers?" Bart asked, this time wiping blood off of his mouth.

"We have our reasons." the worker smiled at Bart, and then spat on him, " _Slave_."

"Am I a 'test subject', 'slave', or 'bitch'? Because you've been calling me all three." Bart growled, "Fucking kill me. I can't handle this any longer."

"Nah." the worker replied.

"You're sick." Bart growled again, "For the past... I don't know how many days... you've  _beat_  me, you've  _raped_  me, and you've made me watch you  _kill innocent people_. Why?! Just  _kill_  me!"

"Metagenes. It's simple. We need your metagene. Now shut up or I'll cut out that tongue of your's." the worker commanded.

Bart closed his mouth but still scowled at the man standing above of him.

"Oh yes, and Red Beetle has brought in a new toy for me to play with today. You  _know_ it's special when it's Red Beetle delivering it." the worker laughed.

Bart didn't speak.

"Good boy. Stay put. I'll be back!" the worker said too cheerily, and within a few minutes, he came back, dragging an unconscious person across the floor.

Bart's eyes widened, " _No_!"

He got up, running towards the worker, but was only kicked in the stomach once again and fell to the floor. He began to cough up blood again, and sat up, trying to stand up fully, but failed.

"Please, don't." he begged, "Please, don't do this. You don't understand. Do whatever you want to me. Just don't hurt her."

"Aww, does wittle Kid Flash not want me touching his friends?" the worker chuckled, bringing out a knife from his pocket.

" _No!_ "


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly irrelevant note, but if you are reading this chapter on this day (July 18th, 2015), I just wanted to say shout out to my boy Jaime Reyes for getting stabbed in the spine today and having an alien-demon-robot trying to possess his body for the first time and having to hear a voice in his head for the rest of his life starting today. Oh yeah and R.I.P. Ted Kord.
> 
> Okay, so if you guys are confused, Greg Weisman confirmed that Khaji Da fused with him somewhere in July of 2015, so I just decided to make the day July 18th of 2015. Happy scarab day.

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 19TH, 2025**

**23:47 PCT**

It felt like hours when Wally decided to stop looking in the mirror. He couldn't believe his own reflection. It felt as if were... not actually there. He suddenly felt... something. A soft vibration, almost, running through his back. It wasn't abnormal for a speedster to feel vibrations running through his or her body, but hell, Wally was standing still. He rubbed at his back, to try and find the source, thinking it was perhaps an itch... a strange one at that. He then felt something. Was that... was that a fucking lump?! His eyes widened... what the hell? He surely didn't remember that before. He took off his shirt quickly, back facing the mirror, turned his head, and gasped. What the fuck?! There  _was_  a lump- a rather large one at that. He immediately thought of the worst- a tumor. A cancerous one at that. How in the hell did he develop a tumor when he was gone?

Then something worse happened. The lump began to  _glow. There was a glowing lump underneath his skin._

The lump glowed a bright red, and then more bright red lights started to go up and down his spine. He screamed in horror and disbelief, convinced he was going to die. Something happened while he was gone, he knew it, he went somewhere, someone did this to him, someone was trying to kill him, and here he was to die, not knowing where his friends and family went, to die from some sort of probably-bomb implanted in his back.

_Hello, Wallace West._

Wally screamed in horror, convinced that his sanity has completely slipped away from him. Maybe the disappearances of his girlfriend, cousin, friend, and children just had gotten to him, maybe he was turning to voices in his head for comfort, he didn't know anymore. He didn't know what to do, what to think, fuck, at this moment, he didn't know  _how_ to think.

_Relax, Wallace West._

"Don't tell me what to fucking do!"Wally screamed at the voice in his head, " _Go away!_ "

_I am here to stay. Now, you must listen to me._

"Why should I?!" Wally demanded, now pacing back and forth around the bathroom.

_Enough!_

Wally paused in his tracks.

_Look at yourself again._

"I don't want to." Wally whimpered.

_If you will not do it yourself, then I will force you to._

"You can't control me!" Wally screamed.

_That statement is inaccurate. I can, in fact, take control, whether you consent me to or not._

Wally gasped as he felt his body spin towards the direction of the mirror. There was no way he was doing that himself. This had to be some sort of dream, or hallucination.

_Open your eyes._

"I don't want to!" Wally screamed as he clamped his eyelids shut as his body faced the mirror. He was expecting some sort of silhouette of a demon standing behind him, or something along the lines of that, and he was positive if he opened his eyes, he would die. He tried to run but he couldn't. He screamed in horror, eyes still closed, but his legs, no matter how much effort he put into moving them, would not move, as if they were cemented to the tile bathroom floor.

"Let me go!" he commanded.

_Wallace West, if you refuse to open your eyes, then I will do it myself._

"No!" Wally screamed. Then he gasped as his eyes fluttered open. He saw a reflection- one he wouldn't recognize as himself, but he knew exactly what it was.

He screamed once more, but this time, his screams didn't make any noise. It was simply inside of his mind. He stood as a still figure, but on the inside, he was thrashing around, trying to escape whatever body-prison he was in.

" _That's impossible!_ " he screamed, " _It's impossible!_ " Dreaming. He had to be dreaming. There was no fucking way this was true. No, no, no, no, no!

_Wallace West, where do you think you went when the chrysalis absorbed you?_

" _I don't know_!" Wally screamed.

_It's simple, you were absorbed by a piece of Reach technology. Thus, you were transported to the Reach... our masters could not just pass by such an opportunity to... mode you._

" _No_!" Wally screamed.

_Your denial does not change a thing. Wallace West, you are Reach property, and you are the Red Beetle._

" _No_!" Wally screamed internally again.

_We come to planet Earth for one task- to destroy all of those associated with Justice League, and to take back what should have been our's._

Wally no longer responded with words, just shrieks and cries of sheer horror.

_Nobody will hear your cries, only I will, you are only wasting your time. We are to perform upon our task now._

" _It's not my task_!" Wally cried. How did he not remember a thing for all of those years?! The scarab, however, seemed to read his thoughts (in which, Wally assumed, he... she... it.. whatever it was, probably did).

_When you were teleported back to the Reach ship, the Reach began to work on a new scarab- to be specific, me. It took many years for them to perfect me, for me to be able to collaborate with your meta-human genetics. They programmed me to erase every memory of your time with the Reach when I fused with your body._

" _Then why are you telling me this?_ " Wally challenged, still extremely horrified to the core.

_I believe that it is important for you to know, so you can finally come to accept this new form. After all, our masters find it entertaining to watch you suffer, instead of unconsciously controlling you to kidnap our supplies._

" _What the fuck are you talking about?!_ " Wally commanded. There was too many questions he had, and he wasn't sure if he wanted answers.

_Your former teammate, Lagoon Boy, was correct when he claimed that you were the one who kidnapped your friends. It is rather simple, Wallace West. When you returned to your significant other and your children, I took the opportunity, while you were asleep, to kidnap them, and supply them to our masters. The same situation applies to the Jaime Reyes. We took him as well._

" _Why do they want them?!_ " Wally screamed, " _They're innocent!_ "

_There are many who would disagree with that claim of your's, Wallace West, but we need the kinetic energy to transport the Reach back onto Earth, without alarming any Green Lantern security system. Both of your children have just what we need to do such the task- kinetic energy. You should feel grateful, as if it weren't for our supplied kinetic energy, you would not be transported to Earth._

" _I was transported before you took my kids!_ " Wally screamed, " _Are you just making up bullshit now?_ "

_No, I am not 'making up bullshit now'. To transport you back to Earth, we needed kinetic energy in the first place. The Light and The Reach have come to good terms once again, and have agreed to collaborate upon taking Earth as their own. The Light has spent the last eight years constructing upon a machine that will be able to absorb high levels of kinetic energy from a living being, and The Reach worked upon constructing me. They used Bartholomew Allen, the current Kid Flash's kinetic energy, as he was the one with the most kinetic energy, to transport you back to Earth._

It suddenly clicked in Wally's head. That made sense, now, as to why Bart disappeared before he returned.

 _In order to send the rest of the Reach and their technologies back to Earth, we must gather more kinetic energy. We need the Flash and his children to complete such task. Now that you understand, Wallace West, you must come to accept that you are Reach property.  
_  
" _No_!" Wally screamed once again.

_Very well, then. I suppose it will take time. We are to focus upon our task now._

Wally's body began to walk out of the bathroom, and towards the outdoors. The armor upon his back shifted into a jet pack, where he began to fly to an unknown place. Wally tried to close his eyes, but couldn't manage to. No, the scarab forced him to keep them open, forced him to watch as he was hovered into the air, the entirety of his life dependent on the robotic alien bug as of this moment, and he wanted to scream and tell him to put him down. See, as a speedster, Wally was always used to the ground. Ground met places for his feet to move, and a speedster was always on their feet. The sky? Well, you can't run in the sky. It's pretty simple.

_Preserving energy._

Huh?

**CENTRAL CITY**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**1:18 CT**

He felt alarmed as he was suddenly awoken.

_We have arrived at our destination. I could have kept you unconscious, Wallace West, though our masters have requested to keep you awake._

It took Wally a minute for Wally to realize where he was. He was inside of the Allen household. He knew exactly what was going to happen.

" _I won't let you take them._ " Wally told his scarab, though his voice was only echoing off of his own mind.

_I do not care if you disapprove of us bringing the required supplies to our masters, you have no say in what I decide to do._

" _You don't have to listen to them._ " Wally pointed out.

_We listen and obey to every command. It is what I am programmed for, and what you will soon discover that you will do._

Red Beetle began moving swiftly through the house, and slowly turned the knob of one of the doors. It had been a while since Wally truly walked through the house, so he couldn't tell who's room it was.

He walked in on Don, the little boy peacefully sleeping, arms wrapped around a pillow. Wally would have smiled, if he didn't know what was going to happen next. His scarab smiled, however. He could feel his cheekbones lifting, when really, Wally wanted to frown, scream, and possibly even cry. But the scarab wasn't having any of that.

He watched in pure emotional pain as the scarab forced his hand to cover Don's mouth, pinning the boy down as well. The boy tried to vibrate his molecules out of Red Beetle's hold, but the armor that covered Wally's body was simply designed for such. Wally wanted to close his eyes, to not have to look at the blonde boy dart his green wide eyes full of fear all over the place. Eventually, he quit resisting, and went limp. For a horrified second, Wally feared that he suffocated Don, but quickly realized he was still breathing. The back Red Beetle's armor opened, and using Wally's arm, the scarab grabbed an inhibitor collar from the now open storage area, and clasped it over Don's neck, before going over to the next room. This one was Dawn's, of course. Unlike Don, in his surprisingly similar sleeping fashion to a fetus, the girl slept on her stomach, arms and legs hanging off the side of the bed, and the pillow provided for her head was on the floor. Red Beetle pushed the girl's head deep into the mattress, cutting off any room for air. She let out muffled screams, but Red Beetle pinned her down, as she tried to vibrate out just like her brother. Finally, she was knocked unconscious as well. Red Beetle pulled her head back by her hair and snapped the second collar on. And then, the third door opened. Iris and Barry were both on the bed, Barry in the flopped position similar to Dawn, and Iris in the fetus position like Don. Red Beetle leaned over Iris, and Wally was shocked to hear what he heard next.

"Hey honey, I'm feeling kind of sick, can you get me some water?"

Not only did the scarab speak out of his mouth, but he also somehow managed to sound exactly like Barry. Red Beetle ducked down, and hid on the other side of the bed.

"Mmm... sure." Iris said simply, and slowly got up, heading towards the hallway. When she finally left, Red Beetle pulled back Barry's head, and snapped the collar on before attempting to knock the man out cold. Barry gasped in surprise and shock. Before he could scream, his head as well, was shoved into the mattress, and to knock him out quickly, the scarab hit him in the back of the head, twice, with loud gasps that Iris might have been able to hear, before he was completely unconscious. Iris did hear, in fact, she was running back in the room,a tone of high concern in her voice when she asked her husband if he was alright, some of the water spilling over the glass she poured it in. She gasped as she saw the figure of Red Beetle, dropping her glass, causing it to shatter on the floor. Her eyes wide like a deer in the headlights, and she began to run out. With the mix of the scarab's technology and Wally's super speed, it wasn't that had to catch the red-haired woman.

_She is no use, as she does not supply us kinetic-energy. She has little to no value as a hostage for the Justice League as well. We will kill her._

Wally screamed, " _No!_ "

Red Beetle grabbed Iris' struggling body by the collar of her shirt. Slowly, the silver scythe slithered out of the armor.

She only got half of a scream through before the blade impaled her torso, blood eerily dripping down her shirt and small droplets spilled on the floor.

" _Aunt Iris!_ " Wally screamed in nothing but pure horror and trauma.

Red Beetle dropped the dying body of the woman. Her eyes were twitching and still wide, and she gasped for air, but it was weakening with every moment. Wally's horror was replaced with anger, knowing that the scarab was forcing him to watch his own aunt die, the one his body killed.

She let out one more exhale, before she stopped moving.

Since Wally couldn't cry physically, he wailed loudly like a young child who had a nightmare inside of his head, not knowing when it would stop, not caring, just wanting things to be okay...

he didn't even notice when he was in a whole new place.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**3:39 EST**

"I have made Wallace witness the death of his aunt as well as the capture of these three." Red Beetle said to the man standing in the shadows.

The man began to walk out, in a slow pace, his footsteps echoing off of the walls, and eventually, Wally knew exactly who he was. Vandal Savage.

In his head, he screamed curses and cusses, but on the outside, he was a solider supplying his general with his information.

"Excellent." Vandal rasped, and Red Beetle handed the three unconscious bodies to his master, "How is the host taking it?"

"He is very upset." Red Beetle confirmed, "But he must learn to deal with the pain that comes with his task."

"Exactly." Vandal agreed, walking away with his supplies, an evil grin on that face of his.

_Preserving energy._

Wally knew exactly what that meant.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**9:00 EST**

For a second, Wally was confused, not remembering the events from last night, but they all came soaring back to him. When he awoke, he was standing up, perfectly straight and normal. He looked around. He could see them. He could see them all, in a semi-circle of tubes on the dark black concrete wall. Irey, Jai, Barry, Don and Dawn. But where was Bart?

The tubes all had pipes on top of them, all connecting to one large pipe, to which lead to some sort of machine that would process the energy, and from what he would assume, would bring the Reach back to Earth. All of the speedsters were awake and breathing heavily, not knowing what was going to happen to them. The tubes were too small for them to move their limbs to try and bang on the glass, so they just let out screams which were only muffled cries. Wally realized he was standing next to Vandal Savage as well, a smile on his face, along with another man he hadn't seen before, but somehow seemed familiar, he just couldn't quite pin it. Vandal had some sort switch in his hand, and within seconds, clicked it.

The tubes began to illuminate a bright yellow, and then the speedsters began to scream in pain as robotic parts began to sting at their chests. Yellow bursts of electricity spit in and out of their bodies, and after about thirty seconds, the yellow electricity was sucked out of the bodies, went up the pipes, and through the main pipe, to the machine, which roared itself alive. It processed loudly, too many advanced computer holograms popping up and showing what Wally could only assume was the scanning process, before a sound similar to thunder was made a few times, and then the machine shut itself down.

"The process is complete." Vandal Savage, smiled,

"The Reach are here."


	9. Chapter 8

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**9:02 EST**

"All of them have seemed to lost their metagene." Vandal Savage said, bringing up a hologram, "All except Jai West."

The man next to him seemed confused, but pulled up his own hologram, studying the problem.

"Tube number two had a glitch." he confirmed, "Are you sure the Reach are here?"

Vandal Savage clicked a few more buttons before saying, "Yes, they are."

"Then it is not a problem. We have extra kinetic energy to spare, if it is needed in the future. Keeping their metagenes is what it is important- the kinetic energy is what transports us." the man replied, "Though his kinetic energy levels have gone down by fifty percent." The man smiled again, "I have also managed to bring back Kid Flash's metagene. The Reach were right when they said to 'simply make them stressed'. It appears the several forms of abuse have been enough for him to adapt and form his metagene once again. I have him in a cell with an inhibitor collar on, we will only use him when we need him."

"Excellent." Vandal smiled, turning to Wally, "Red Beetle, we need you to imprison each Flash in a different cell."

Red Beetle nodded. Wally didn't. Red Beetle freed two at a time, starting with Irey and Jai, and slung each child over a shoulder. Wally began to walk down an unfamiliar hallway in the dark base, but the scarab seemed to know where it was going. Wally then saw him- Bart. He was a mess. He was curled in a ball, in his costume, which was now tattered and worn, goggles next to him, the lenses cracked and the band snapped. He was softly crying, face buried in his knees, hair tangled and covering the rest of his face. Wally could make out his physical features- he was taller, but recently, Wally assumed he weighed less than he did nine years ago. He could easily make out his bones sticking out of his skin, some of which seemed out of place, most likely broken.

"Shut up, meat." Red Beetle said, kicking the cell door, alarming Bart, who immediately popped out of his ball, and scurried towards the back of his cell. His face was deathly pale, and his green eyes were dull and full of fear.

What had they  _done_  to him?

Wally wanted to just cry as well. He wanted to hug Bart, give him all of the food in the world, every ounce of love he could give his younger cousin, let him know that he's there... Wally's there... he's still there...

But what Red Beetle had just done... that was  _not_  Wally. He began screaming at his scarab, to which the scarab ignored and opened the door to the next cell, throwing Irey inside, then locking it with it's digital code, and repeating the process with Jai.

Next was Don and Dawn, and when he walked across Bart this time around, Bart was facing the wall, once again curled in a ball, but wasn't crying. He was eerily quiet. By the time he got to Barry, Bart still hadn't moved an inch.

When Red Beetle finished his task, he returned back to the room with the tubes, Vandal Savage's painfully-familiar-somehow-recognizable-partner repairing the one he claimed had a glitch. There were loud footsteps heard everywhere, echoing off of the walls. A door was opened, and Wally would have gasped if he could. He knew exactly who those aliens were.

"Vandal Savage." the large one said, from what Wally could guess, the guy was three times larger than him, "It is great that we can finally agree once again."

The alien held out a large hand, which Vandal Savage shook. The smaller alien, a slim one with a female build, gave a mischievous smile towards Wally, which made him uneasy. The large alien shook the other man's hand before turning to Wally as well.

"Wallace West, Red Beetle." the woman said, "I enjoyed creating you much more than I did of the Jaime Reyes' scarab."

" _She didn't create me_!" Wally protested. He suddenly gasped internally as he heard the woman's voice in his head.

" _Hello, scarab. Hello, Wallace_."

_Hello, Scientist._

" _How are you- get out of my head, Reach woman!_ " Wally commanded. It almost reminded him of back in his days with the Team, where Miss Martian would link them up, and the Team would constantly have mind-conversations, except he didn't want to hear this woman's voice in his head.

The scientist laughed, " _It is a new feature available in your scarab. Mental communication, but automatically at our minds' will. No buttons switches required to do such task._ "

" _Ah, yes_." the large alien joined in on the mental conversation, " _You will do much better than my former little brother._ "

" _Get out_!" Wally screamed.

_My host is still getting used to his new form. Expect foolish comments and remarks._

" _We understand, scarab, thank you_." Scientist replied. Suddenly, the mental link was broken, and the large alien turned to Vandal Savage, where they engaged in conversation.

"So you are the Reach's ambassador now?" Vandal asked with interest.

"Our former ambassador proved a failure... and I was formerly a Beetle myself... which means I have had experience. Both Scientist and I agreed that I should take on the role." the large alien said.

 _Oh_ , Wally realized,  _the fat guy is Black Beetle_.

"Have you managed to get Jaime Reyes on mode?" the new ambassador asked.

"No." Vandal admitted, "But I suppose our supply of kinetic energy was enough to enable you to bring your necessary technologies to potentially mode him once again with you?"

The ambassador smiled in satisfaction.

Vandal reflected his smile, "Then I will guide you to him, to see if you can get him back on mode. Red Beetle, preserve energy."

_Preserving energy..._

Not this again...

**PALO ALTO**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**10:13 PCT**

After some computer research and some basic hacking skills, Lian managed to find the location of her cousins' home. Luckily for the small girl, Palo Alto was near Star City, as both towns were located in California. She managed to get here by hopping on top of trains and sneaking into subways, until she finally reached her destination- Wally and Artemis' house. She turned the front door knob, which was... left unlocked? That was strange. She wondered if Wally forgot to lock it last night. She made her way inside, the door squeaking as she did. Emptiness. She began to course her way through the entire house, still, nothing but emptiness. She noticed a hologram pop up from a cube located small table.

**1 NEW NOTIFICATIONS**

Curious, Speedy went to the hologram, only to have it give her a pass code. Yet again, more required hacking. She wasn't any Batman or Robin, but her parents knew the importance of teaching their daughter of these things, just in case it was necessary. Okay, maybe this wasn't necessary, but who could blame a nine year old girl?

After a few minutes, she unlocked the hologram, giving her full access. She opened the notification. It was from Dick Grayson... that was Batman, right?

**Hey Walls, you okay? I know you've been having trouble recently but I haven't heard from you in three days. Just wanting to make sure you're alright. I can always take a day off, if you want to see a movie or just hang out like old times.**

Interesting, Wally hasn't been seen for three days. She began going through more of the hologram, and the more she scavenged, the more she figured that Dick or somebody had just recently given Wally the hologram, as many things weren't customized yet, and Wally had only received a few messages before. He must of only had it for a few days or something. She decided to take the cube. Sure, it could be considered stealing, but she needed to find her cousins here. And if the League or Team could supply her with any information, she'd take it.

After about ten more minutes of searches, she found nothing else important. She knew she had to go before Roy noticed she was missing and skipped school. She closed the door quickly and ran down the wooden steps, back to Star City.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**9:09 EST**

Jai's eyes fluttered open, and he grumbled in annoyance as he felt something dig into his back. The little boy sat up, and quickly realized that he had crawled into this cheap old bed last night, after waking up on the floor. He was absolutely clueless to where he was.

"Jai." he heard a voice whisper. Jai snapped his head in the direction of the voice- it wasn't something he expected.

"...Dad?" he asked.

Wally nodded in response, and approached is son, sitting down on the bed beside him.

"Dad... did they take you too?" he whispered.

Wally laughed, "No, Jai."

"Then why are you here?" Jai asked, "Where's Irey and mom?"

"Jai, listen to me." Wally replied, grabbing Jai's hand, "You are one very special boy."

"Huh?"

"What I'm trying to say is... you were never allowed to use your powers, weren't you?" Wally asked.

" _Scarab, what are you doing_?" Wally asked internally, " _Are you trying to manipulate my own kid?!_ "

_Silence, Wallace. I am focusing on a task._

"Well... no. Kind of. Only inside the house if I needed to grab something, but we weren't allowed to go too fast." Jai replied.

"Well," Wally said, removing his hand from Jai's, and resting it on his son's shoulder, "Isn't that unfair? Don and Dawn can use their's but, you and Irey can't?"

"I guess... mom said she didn't want to lose us like she lost you." Jai informed.

"But, I'm here now right?" Wally asked.

Jai nodded.

"Exactly, Jai... I'm gonna give you the chance to use your powers... and to their full capability." Wally smiled.

" _Scarab, what are you doing?! Stop!_ " Wally commanded.

"How?" Jai asked.

"Join the Light and it's partner, the Reach." Wally replied simply, "They have machines that can enhance your powers... that can make you the fastest person alive."

"But... but they killed you... kind of... thing... they're bad!" Jai protested.

Wally laughed, "No, son. When I 'died'," he used his fingers for quotations, "I was transported to the Reach. And they gave me exactly what I wanted."

"And what's that?" Jai asked.

"Jai, I'm going to need you to trust me. Don't be afraid." Wally warned.

"But what is it?" Jai asked, curious now more than ever.

Wally's armor extended over his body, revealing the secret.

"But... but... you're the guy who took me, mom, and Irey!  _Why?!_ " Jai demanded, backing away somewhat.

"I had to bring you here, because the Light needed kinetic energy. I'm sorry that the process hurt, but, I'll let you in on a little secret." Wally told the boy.

Jai didn't respond verbally; he was just confused.

"Everyone's superpower was taken away." Wally told him, and shifted his hand, poking at Jai's chest, "All except your's."

"Their- their superpowers were taken away?" Jai panicked.

"Don't worry, they'll get them back." Wally reassured, "The Reach has machines that will bring them back... and you should feel grateful they do, as Bart has had to endure two weeks of torture to receive his back."

"They had to torture him to get it back?" Jai asked, more curious than frightened by the fact.

Wally nodded simply.

" _Scarab, stop!_ " Wally pleaded, " _Don't!_ "

The scarab ignored him, however, and continued using Wally's body to trick his son.

"But you... you still have your's... and we can only make it better from here. We can work together, as partners, train together- dad and son. You can use your powers all you want, and you can know me after nearly nine years of never knowing me. Oh yes, and you won't have to go to school anymore. The Light and The Reach can make you smarter than school ever will... and it won't be boring. Doesn't that sound nice?" Wally asked.

Wally screamed inside his head, desperately trying to gain control back of his body, but obviously, there wasn't any avail.

Jai looked uncertain, before saying, "Okay."

" _No_!" Wally screamed, his voice echoing off the walls of his mind.

"But what about mom?" Jai asked, "I know that Irey will get her powers back... but... mom."

"I have convinced her to join the cause as well." Wally explained, "She just won't be working with us. You will still get to see her on special events, though."

" _Stop_!" Wally screamed, " _Stop lying to him!_ "

_We need to convince the Jai West to join us. I will lie if I must._

"Okay." Jai nodded along with the word, not asking anymore questions.

Wally smiled,

"Good... now let's go make your powers better than before."

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 21ST, 2025**

**8:07 PCT  
**   
**1 NEW NOTIFICATIONS**

**Wally... we have searched your house and you're not there. Wherever you may be, I hope you brought the smartcube along. I don't know if you know... but Barry, Don, and Dawn are all missing and Iris was found dead in their home...**

**Wally, I don't know what to do anymore... in the span of less than a month, Bart went missing, Artemis, Irey, Jai, Don, Dawn, Barry, Jaime, and now you... that's a total of nine people.**

**I don't know where you are or what you're up to. I don't know if La'gaan hurt you to the point where you'd run away completely. You've always been there for me when we were teens, and I love you and I think you should know that.**

**I want this all too end too.**

It was from Dick, once again. Lian stared at the message for a while, wondering if she should reply to him. There was a knock on her door and she quickly hid the smartcube under her pillow.

The voice was her mother's.

"Lian, get up dear, it's time for school."

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 21ST, 2025**

**15:19 PCT**

"I know you're hiding something." Arrowette said as she tied up her mugger and waited for police to arrive. The mugger spat curses at the blonde, to which Arrowette slapped him in the back of the head, and left with Speedy when the police sirens were heard. They climbed up the side of a building in an alley from an old ladder, and looked down once again. Speedy knew already that if it already wasn't, this was going to become a regular thing. Red Arrow only went out on occasions, and he was fine with Lian going out with Bonnie as long as they stuck together.

Lian didn't try to lie. "How'd you know?" she asked.

"The look on your face." Bonnie said simply, pulling a protein bar out of her costume and began to eat away at it, the unwrapping of the bar obnoxiously loud for the quiet night.

Lian took a deep breath before pulling the smartcube out of her pocket.

"It's Wally's smartcube." she explained, "When you told me about me having cousins, I wanted to find them, so I went to Wally's house, and... found this."

She activated the hologram on the smartcube before unlocking it, showing the older archer the messages sent from Dick.

"Hmm." Bonnie narrowed her eyes and looked at the cube with interest. She played around on it a few times before deciding to shut it off.

"So you want to find them? How are you supposed to find them if the League can't even find them?" Bonnie questioned.

Lian sighed, "I don't know."

"Well," Bonnie said, finishing her bar and tossing the wrapper aside, "Let me let you in on a secret... how old are you again?"

"Nine. I'll be ten in September. Why?" Lian asked.

"Ah... I was going to say you should probably join the Team but that stupid age limit... yeah." Bonnie replied. Bonnie began to explain the bases in each continent, and how the Team went to them, each finding a Light member at one, and how the Brain and Queen Bee were held hostages. She explained how the League couldn't find any bases located in the continents Europe or Antarctica, and how none of the Team reported seeing Vandal Savage.

"So you're saying..." Lian began, "That Vandal Savage and his base are in Europe, the League just can't find it?"

"We think he's in Europe... but here's the thing... the bases... we just figured out what they were earlier this morning." Arrowette said.

"Huh?" Speedy asked.

"The bases, they were communication bases. The Light, they were communicating with some unknown... empire or something. Some sort of alien species, most likely. That's the only reason that Batman and Robin were able to find the bases. So whatever potential sixth or seventh bases that may be hidden... they aren't used for communication. That's why Batman and Robin weren't able to find anymore."

"Then what are they used for? Hiding the missing people?" Lian asked.

"That's what I thought." Arrowette nodded, "Long story short... your cousins are probably in Europe."

"I can't go to Europe!" Speedy threw her hands up in the air.

"No. Miss Martian wants to send the Team to Europe, but she doesn't want to send them there to come back with nothing. They have missions to attend to in the states as well." Arrowette pointed out, "So does the League."

"So what now?" Speedy asked.

"We can go to Europe. Together." Arrowette told the young girl.

"But aren't you on the Team? And dad would never let me!" Lian asked.

"I am, but I can say I'm taking a break because my... grandma just died or something. And Red Arrow doesn't  _have_  to know. Listen, Speedy, the whole disappearance-of-people has gotten everybody on edge, but I really want to take action now, and not limit out the possibilities. Even if they aren't in Europe, it's worth a shot, no matter how much time it takes up." Arrowette told the girl.

Speedy nodded in agreement.

"So it's a deal?" Arrowette asked, holding out her hand.

Speedy clasped her hand over Arrowette's, "Deal."

Arrowette smiled, "Great. Meet me here tomorrow at exactly twelve p.m. Skip school, I'll skip class. We'll start from there."

Speedy nodded once again.


	10. Chapter 9

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**10:17 EST**

"The machine is prepared and ready." Scientist said, turning to Wally and Jai.

"Will it hurt?" Jai asked.

"Just a small sting." the new ambassador chuckled.

Wally gave his son a small pat on the back for reassurance. Jai nodded before stepping into the tube. Scientist closed the door, heading over to a computer. The former Black Beetle watched with interest, arms folded together. He then turned to Wally (who was now in his full Red Beetle armor), and established a mental link.

" _How is the host doing?_ " he asked.

_Wallace West still refuses to accept his new form._

" _What the hell are you doing to my kid?!_ " Wally commanded.

" _Nothing that'll kill him_." the ambassador laughed, then spoke to the scarab once again, " _Take the Flashes and bring them to the tubes to bring back their metagenes_." the mental link was broken right after that.

Red Beetle forced Wally to walk down that hallway again, not wanting to go past the cells again. He was forced to look at Bart again as well. He was awake, but he was not crying, munching away at stale pieces of bread quickly. When he spotted Red Beetle, he stopped moving, acting as if he didn't move, then Red Beetle wouldn't notice him, like a rabbit. After suddenly awaking Irey in her cell, and the scarab forcing the words "Follow me, or else." out of Wally's mouth, Red Beetle walked to each cell and repeated the process, until he had Irey, Don, Dawn, and Barry on his trail. The young children seemed afraid, but Barry seemed absolutely enraged, trying to contain his inner anger, knowing that attacking the Beetle would be pointless as he had an inhibitor collar on. All four speedsters suddenly stopped in their tracks when they saw Bart. Bart's eyes brightened in happiness and he ran up towards them.

" _Keep going_!" Red Beetle commanded, activating a plasma cannon, "There is no need for you to communicate with him!"

Don, Dawn, and Irey obeyed immediately, and Barry gave Bart one last look of sympathy before following once again. They entered the room with the tubes, and Red Beetle doing the favor of shoving them each in one and shutting it. Vandal Savage smiled in satisfaction. The man next to him went to a computer, and said, "Deactivating inhibitor collars. Activating pro-meta mode."

The colors let off a loud "zip" sound before turning off, and right after, the tubes began to glow, extending robotic arms within, shocking the body parts of the speedsters. They let out cries of pain.

"Excellent. Red Beetle, preserve engergy." Vandal Savage commanded.

_Preserving energy..._

Wally hated those words.

**STAR CITY**

**JANUARY 22ND, 2025**

**12:00 PCT**

"Twelve exactly. Nice, kid." Bonnie said as Speedy leaped onto the roof.

"You do realize that we'll need a boat or plane to get across the water, right?" Speedy asked.

"Don't worry- I've got that all figured out. C'mon, follow me." Arrowette began to make her way off of the roof, Speedy on her tail. Arrowette finally made her way to what looked like a garage. After pushing a few buttons for the pass code, the garage door opened, and she walked inside, pulling a blanket off of a reddish-pink motorcycle, one that matched her costume.

"Hop on." she said quickly, grabbing two helmets, throwing one to Speedy, which she quickly caught. Arrowette put on her helmet, and Speedy repeated the process, hopping on the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around Arrowette's torso before Arrowette started the motorcycle, quickly accelerating away.

Their first stop was in Colorado, to eat. About six hours had passed at that point, but they weren't anywhere near stopping for the night. Arrowette, luckily, had brought some money with her, and bought them both cheap fast food. After their meal and a bathroom break, they began to ride again, and decided to stop halfway through Kentucky, getting more fast food before sneaking into an old motel through the window and crashing there for the night. It was a peaceful sleep for them both until somebody, at roughly eight in the morning, tried to open up the blockaded door from the outside, hissing, and going to get a manager. The girls acted quickly and left through the window where outside the motorcycle was parked, and left before the door could be opened and they found the intruders inside.

After roughly three hours and a stop for gas, they were at the edge of Virginia, looking out at the Atlantic ocean and the parked ships.

"This thing goes fast." Speedy laughed.

"She sure does." Arrowette smiled, and scanned each boat and ship.

"The cruise over there." Arrowette pointed, "That's the one I'm looking for."

People were boarding the cruise, going through intense searches as if they were at an airport before being allowed to board.

"I've managed to make fake tickets. They think we're gonna be carrying cargo with us, A.K.A. the motorcycle, and that our parents are... the uh... Petersons." Arrowette informed, looking at her ticket, handing Speedy her own. The girls changed into civvies in an enclosed corner, hiding their clothes and weapons in an area of the motorcycle specifically designed to bypass security systems.

After a few hours, Speedy and Arrowette finally made it aboard.

Sleeping in a storage room wasn't the most appealing thing, but Speedy knew that it'd have to be like this for a few more days. Red Arrow and Cheshire probably knew she was missing by now, and were probably searching for her. She wished her and Arrowette could have used Zeta Tubes, but both of them knew that Zeta Tube activity could be tracked, Roy could find her location, and force her to come home. Sighing, the brunette girl adjusted her broom- a pathetic excuse for a pillow- and looked at the shelf full of cleaning sprays before closing her eyes.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 20TH, 2025**

**12:23 EST**

The tube opened, and Scientist quickly grabbed the boy who was about to fall out. The pain from the experiment he was apart of was enough to knock him out.

"Interesting." the ambassador said as Scientist gently put the boy down on the floor, "It appears that the experiment has changed his hair color."

"This was not an uncommon thing for meat when we have experimented on them in the past." Scientist pointed out, "Though, it was the eye color that changed, not the hair color."

"Do you believe that since he is a meta-human that is the cause of the change of the hair?" the ambassador asked.

Scientist sighed, "I am not sure, that will require some testing. We should see if anything else has changed." she shook the boy, and he awoke with a gasp.

"His eyes." the scientist confirmed. The ambassador nodded in agreement.

Jai's eyes, which used to be a soft grey, were now a bright neon green, and stood out greatly upon the rest of his features. His hair was well, which used to be ginger, was now jet black.

He moaned in pain, sitting up from off the floor. The second he saw Scientist, the second he was angry, "You said it wouldn't hurt that much!"

"Our mistake, Jai, we did not expect such." Scientist apologized.

Jai glared at her for a few more seconds, rolling his shoulders back and forth and said, "I don't feel that different. I only feel pain."

"It may take up to a few days for effects. Your physical features have changed, however." The ambassador informed, "For now, we will wait and see what happens."

Jai looked at himself from the reflection of the glass tube. Running his hands through his now-black hair, he said,

"That's... really cool actually."

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 23RD, 2025**

**13:12 EST**

"Nrgh- let go!" Blue Beetle struggled against the grip of Red Beetle.

Scientist and the ambassador were standing next to the two, and Scientist established a mental link.

_Your experiments in the pod have proved a failure? You could not mode him through there?_

" _Yes, sadly_." Scientist sighed.

Red Beetle placed a hand on Blue's scarab.

_I am making an attempt of your suggestion, Scientist. To mode his scarab via myself, so you may be back in control once again._

" _No_!" Wally screamed, " _You don't understand... no!_ "

_If I were human, or any organic life intelligence for that matter, I do not believe that I would be able to tolerate the Wallace West. He would be described as "annoying" to me._

" _Continue your work, scarab_." Scientist nodded before shutting off the link.

Jaime's eyes widened as he felt Red Beetle access his scarab. He then suddenly went limp, as if his body forced itself off.

**PORTUGAL**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**7:24 EST**

"Finally!" Speedy cheered, "We made it!" she was relieved to finally get off of the cruise ship, after several nights of cheap meals, sleeping in storage rooms, and getting the occasional sea-sickness, she was here, with Arrowette, in Europe.

The girls took off down the streets, suddenly stopping when they looked through a large window, saw TV in a cafe with the image of Lex Luthor. A tan woman was reporting on TV, speaking in Portuguese, to which Arrowette could barely make out. Speedy looked confused.

After a few seconds, Arrowette finally seemed to understand the concept, and began to explain to Speedy, "She's talking about Lex Luthor's second building in Europe here in Portugal."

"This doesn't help us. We're looking for Vandal Savage and our friends." Speedy pointed out, but Arrowette quickly hushed her, and continued to listen,

"He's gonna be here for the grand opening."

"And when is that?" Speedy asked.

"It's in four and a half hours... in the next town over... Lisbon." Speedy told her,

"We should get going."

"But... why do we need him?" Speedy asked.

"He's part of the Light. If we kidnap him, we might be able to get him to answer where everyone missing is."

Speedy shrugged,

"Guess you're right."

**LISBON**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**11:31 EST**

Arrowette began typing away at her hologram,

**Finished planting micro-bombs at the east and south side of the building. You?**

Within a few seconds, she received a reply.

**Just got done. The crowd here is huge. It's hard to slip past them plus all the surveillance cameras.**

Then another message appeared.

**Lex Luthor is coming in his limo. Everyone's going crazy. We need to meet up ASAP, I just don't know how. There's millions of people here.**

Arrowette began to type away once again,  **I'm setting up a tracker to find you.**

After several minutes, wandering nearly aimlessly, shoving people aside, she found the small girl standing there, and they nodded in acknowledgement. They finally managed to make their way towards the front of the crowd, both having bows ready from inside their jackets. At exactly twelve o' clock, which was in about ten minutes, parts of the building would explode. While the bombs were not built to make too much damage, they would also spill out an anisthetic gas, knocking everybody out within a mile radius. That, times several bombs, could possibly make for the most incredible kidnapping in history. But they weren't here to make history- they were here to serve justice.

After a speech in Portuguese by Lex Luthor, he was about to cut the large red rope when the building exploded, gas spilling out right away. The girls took masks out that would protect them from the gas, and pulled out their bows, as people screamed and tried to get away. Lex Luthor's guards quickly tried to escort him to his limousine, but the gas was already here, and they all coughed, and gasped for air. The girls ran forward, people who didn't get away in time falling unconscious on the ground, and the guards clicking their communication devices, letting out only a small noise before becoming unconscious as well. Coughing, Lex Luthor desperately tried to make his way out of the mess, but as he was only a human as well, he collapsed. The archers ran up, Arrowette quickly snapping a net over him before they picked up the man together, luckily for both of them, the combination of high levels of strength training and Lex Luthor being not that heavy of a man allowed him to be lifted with ease. They made their way towards the motorcycle before taking off.

**SETUBAL**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**16:06 EST**

Lex Luthor awoke, coughing viciously before he focused his vision on the two girls pointing arrows at him.

"Why, hello." he said, seemingly un-phased.

"Don't think anybody's gonna come and find you. We've destroyed any tracking devices you had." Arrowette pointed out, "Start talking. Where's our missing heroes?"

Speedy stood down, her bow now resting by her side, and grabbed a small watch off of Lex Luthor's wrist, studying it, clicking a button, and quickly finding out it was an activation button for a hologram. She took out her own hologram, and then said, "This isn't a tracking device. This is a communication device."

"Too advanced for a little girl like you to get into, now isn't it, my dear?" Lex Luthor laughed.

"Tell us where they are!" Arrowette snarled.

"Now, why would I do that?" Lex Luthor laughed, "What if I don't know?"

"My ass you don't know!" Bonnie kicked the leg of Lex Luthor, causing a small yelp out of him, immediately followed by laughter.

"You can kill me, archer." Lex Luthor smiled, "But then you won't get the information you need out of me."

Speedy, in the distance, was desperately trying to get into the hologram, however, the coding was far, far, beyond her ability. She wondered if maybe even Batman would struggle to get into this. The smartcube was like answering one plus one. This, however, seemed to be trying to find the end of pi. "We're gonna need help." she confirmed quietly to herself. Uncomfortably, she brought out the smartcube, and activated it.

"Children's toys." Lex Luthor scoffed.

Speedy began to type.

**Hello, Batman. This is Speedy. I'm currently in Setubal, Portugal with Arrowette. Don't question why or how I have Wally's smartcube right now, but please, come fast. We have Lex Luthor captive- and he has a watch thing that needs to be hacked into.**

Speedy sent the message, and whispered, "I contacted Batman." into Arrowette's ear.

"So, are we going to sit here, bored, or are you just going to continue to bark threats at me like an old dog?" Lex Luthor said in a way that somehow seemed polite.

Arrowette growled and sent a forceful punch to Lex Luthor's face, immediately knocking him out.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**16:47 EST**  
  
Red Beetle disconnected, "After several-days attempts, I am afraid that I cannot re-mode him."

In anger, the ambassador slammed his fist on the nearby table, then in attempt to calm down, he said, "Then we will find a new host."

"I'm afraid that won't work, Ambassador." Red Beetle explained, "The scarab has been permanently taken off-mode, it has been like this for nearly nine years. From accessing the Jaime Reyes' memory, it appears that a ritual was performed upon the scarab. One that I cannot reverse. No matter who Khaji Da fuses itself too, it will forever remain off-mode."

"So we kill him." the Scientist said simply.

"Yes." Red Beetle added, "And destroy the scarab."

"Won't... let you..." Jaime muttered underneath the grip.

Red Beetle laughed, pulling out a scythe, "Wanna bet?"

**SETUBAL**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**15:50 EST**

"We got here as fast as we could." Batman said, he, Batgirl, and Robin following Speedy towards where they held Lex Luthor.

"I've had to knock him out several times." Arrowette explained right away, pointing to Lex Luthor, who's bald head was now purple and had a dried bloody nose. The three bats immediately began to work away at the wrist watch, collaborating their hacking skills together to get through. Speedy and Arrowette watched impatiently, Speedy tapping her leg on the floor and Arrowette folding her arms, looking at the ground. More time passed, and it eventually got to the point where the two were too tired to stand, and sat down on the floor.

"The sixth base is located in Turkey. Ankara, Turkey." Robin quickly confirmed, "I'll stay behind and deal with Lex Luthor, and watch out for anyone who might find us here. The rest of you, go."

"You sure, Robin? I mean I know your leg is crushed but-" Batgirl began.

"Those are our friends, Batgirl. They might be there. Now go." Robin replied.

The rest of the heroes nodded and made their way out, Zeta-ing to Turkey's capital, Ankara. Batman had a hologram up, and the four ran as they neared the location.

Batgirl raised an eyebrow,

"It's a... church?"

**ANKARA**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**16:54 EST**

They burst in, running past chapels and finding their way towards the basement door. They opened the door, not caring about guards, or any other machinery that could detect their presence. There was a locked door that they quickly decoded, and walked in.

It was a dark hallway, nothing but emptiness. They still continued to make their way down, and opened one more door. There was a room, full of tubes and technology, some foreign, some things that the heroes have seen before. Batgirl activated her comm, "Batgirl to Team and League. We've found a hidden sixth base, Ankara, Turkey. I'm sending the coordinates to everyone. Get here as fast as possible."

They all snapped their heads in the direction of where a loud scream was heard and then a bang. Quickly opening a door that lead to the source of the noise they opened it.

"Blue Beetle!" Speedy gasped. He lay there, part of his armor torn apart, an active sonic cannon flickering from damage. Another figure soared up, this one... another Beetle? All four were very confused. It didn't take long for the Beetle to notice them, and immediately shot his own plasma cannon at them, to which they all skipped away.

"The meat have found our base!" a voice was heard in the distance. A growl was heard in response, and suddenly, the place began to blink red, a loud alarm going off.

The assumed-named Red Beetle grabbed Speedy, who screamed in horror, trying to kick him away. Batman took a batarang and it landed in the back of Red Beetle's armor, quickly exploding. This didn't seem to damage it, but it was enough for the Beetle to stumble and drop Speedy. Blue Beetle flew into the room, scythes activated, and he charged at Red Beetle.

Wally was screaming internally, " _No, scarab, stop! I don't want to hurt him! No!_ "

The scarab ignored him, activating scythes of it's own, charging back at Blue Beetle.

"You need to- urgh-" Blue Beetle grunted as he resisted against Red Beetle, "-find them!"

"You heard him.  _Go_!" Batman commanded, opening a new door, to which this hallway was surprisingly quiet. Awkwardly quiet. Arrowette charged ahead, peering in what looked like a cell.

"Bart?" she asked suddenly. The young man was asleep on an old bed, in the worst condition Arrowette's ever seen him in. Quickly, the rest of the heroes ran up as well. He popped up his head, eyes widening, and he ran up towards the cell door. Using his hacking skills, Batman unlocked the digitally-locked door, and Bart ran out, tears streaming down his face as Batman wrapped his arms around him in comfort. Batgirl took no time to say hello, she was already onto the next cell, hacking into it herself, and letting out a very upset Don Allen. He wasn't crying, but hugged her as well. After about a minute, everybody was out.

"Where's Jai?" Batman asked, working on removing Bart's inhibitor collar while Batgirl began to remove Irey's.

"We don't know." Barry admitted, "We haven't seen him for days."

There was a loud boom, and then the building shook, followed by a few more screams. Bart's inhibitor collar snapped off and clattered as it hit the floor, and within a few seconds, Irey's did the same.

"Arrowette, Speedy, go help Blue ASAP. Batgirl and I will continue removing the collars." Batman commanded.

Arrowette and Speedy nodded in unison and took off.

"Wait, Jaime's here?" Bart asked, light flickering in his eyes.

"No, Bart. You're too weak to fight. You're gonna run out and run away as fast as you can." Batman told him.

" _But_ -"

"No but's! Now go home!" Batman commanded. Bart sighed and took off.

"Irey, Don, Dawn, Barry. I'm gonna need all of your help." he told them, working on Barry's collar and Batgirl worked on Dawn's. After two more clatters, Batgirl began working on Don's before it clattered to the floor.

The speedsters moved their limbs quickly.

"Um, what are you doing?" Batman asked.

"Powers. They took them away. But they're back now." Irey explained quickly, "Whaddayaneed?"

"It's obvious that the Reach are here." Batman pointed out, "Barry, Irey, I'm going to need you to find their ship for me. Don, Dawn, stay here."

In a second, the two speedsters were gone. "Batgirl, Tornadoes, follow me." Batman said, running out of the door.

Red Beetle was getting rather annoyed at the distractions, and growled at the sight of Batman and his fellow teammates. He shot at them with his plasma cannon several times, each hero getting more and more exhausted avoiding each blast. He didn't seem to stop, searing everything he hit. Blue Beetle took the opportunity to shoot Red Beetle in the back, causing damage in his armor, which repaired itself automatically.

" _Fools_!" Red Beetle screamed, putting his arms outwards from his chest, creating one powerful plasma cannon. Batman and Batgirl threw batarangs at the cannon, which violently exploded, causing the floor above the underground base to cave in.

Blue Beetle was the first to dig his way out of the rubble, coughing as he did, looking around. It only took two seconds before Red Beetle caused another explosion, making the debris above him fly into the air and Blue Beetle shielded himself, feeling the bits of the debris clink off of his armor. With his wings, Red Beetle hovered to the surface, making a crunching sound as he landed on the caved-in floor. His plasma canon was quickly repairing itself. Blue suddenly gasped as he felt himself pinned up against the wall, scythe held to his neck. How'd the guy get there so fast? Surely his scarab would have time to process the oncoming attack. Red Beetle turned his head away from his target as he saw the heroes dig their way out of the rubble. He snarled, removing the scythe from Jaime's neck, turning it into a plasma cannon once again, this time using only his left arm, and just as he was about to shoot at the human heroes, he felt a pair of hands on his back. Before he could do anything, he felt a mental link become established. It was from Scientist.

" _Red Beetle! Finish him!_ "

_Establishing mental link with the Blue Beetle..._

" _Huh?_ " Wally asked, then his entire body froze.

" _Scarab, no! Destroy the Blue Beetle!_ " Scientist screamed.

" _What?_ " Wally heard Jaime's voice in his head.

" _Jaime_!  _Help_!" Wally screamed.

" _What- Wally is that you?_ " Jaime asked. Suddenly, the mental link broke.

Red Beetle turned around and swiftly punched Blue in the face, knocking him backwards. Don and Dawn began circling Red Beetle, the power of the tornadoes causing him to be lifted into the air. He was dazed, and he responded with a sonic attack, throwing the children off, causing them to smack into walls.

Blue narrowed his eyes, launching himself on top of Red Beetle, placing his hands back on his back once again.

_Establishing mental link with the Blue Beetle..._

_What are you doing, brother?! I did not consent you access to my system!_ Wally's scarab hissed.

 _You are on mode,_ Khaji Da spoke,  _it is my duty to crash it._

" _What- what's going on?!_ " Wally panicked.

" _Wally, that's you, right?_ " Jaime asked.

" _Yes! Please, tell me, what is happening?!_ "

 _Khaji Da, that is enough! Our masters did not construct me for such!_ Wally's scarab began to scream.

 _My masters are not of the Reach_ , Khaji told the scarab,  _and neither are your's._

Wally felt a searing pain through his back and let out a short shriek before opening his eyes. His vision was... normal. Not through a screen. Groaning, he tried to stand up but fell backwards. A hand was held out for him- Jaime's. Wally accepted the offer and was pulled to his feet, and soon noticed, his armor was pulled back. Hesitantly, the rest of the heroes approached.

"The Reach... they had him on mode." Jaime explained slowly, to be quickly interrupted by Barry calling for them from the floor on top of them. He poked his head out of the hole.

"We found it! It's in Antarctica!" he called.

"Found what?" Wally asked.

"Blue, Wally, I'm gonna need you two to carry us up." Batman informed.

"Right... how do I do work this stuff?" Wally asked.

"It's like moving a leg. If you want it to, it does." Jaime explained.

"Oh... uh... yeah." Wally said, and then his armor expanded itself over his body and the wings popped out, "Weird."

"Batman, hop on my back. I'll carry Don and Dawn in each arm. Wally, you can take Arrowette, Batgirl, and Speedy." Blue told him. The heroes nodded. Wally felt Arrowette climb onto his back, and he picked up Speedy and Batgirl, who were surprisingly light. He then realized that the entire time, the armor has caused things to seem lighter than they actually are- it made him stronger. They hovered up into the air, and towards solid ground, after letting his passengers off, Wally's armor pulled back once again, and he sighed. He then was alarmed when he saw people burst in the room- members of the Light and the Reach, to be exact. All of them but the Brain and Queen Bee. Vandal had two people slung over his shoulders- Artemis and Damian.

"Give us back Queen Bee and the Brain." he commanded, "Or we won't kill your pathetic heroes."

Wally hadn't even noticed that his armor had crawled back onto his body.

"Red Beetle. Come here." the ambassador commanded.

Nothing.

"Sorry. Mode crashed." Jaime laughed.

Wally laughed as well.

However, neither the Light nor the Reach found this amusing in the slightest.

"Kill them." Vandal said, dropping the bodies on the floor.

Black Manta smiled, bringing out two water swords, happy to finally get a taste of blood. Klarion made a force field around them that prevented the heroes from trying to rescue their teammates, though they still tried, banging on the force field, using whatever weapons they could to try and crack it open.

Suddenly, a loud, powerful female voice was heard.

"Dleifecrof evomer!" it shouted. Klarion gasped as his force-field began to collapse, falling to nowhere.

The Team was standing by the door, along with the League.

"Flash, Wally, Tornado Twins and uh... Irey. Get Superman, Supergirl, Starfire, Captain Marvel, and Mary Marvel to destroy the Reach ship." Batman commanded.

"Wha-? Why?" Barry asked.

"It has their technology. If it's destroyed, it destroys the technology used to create the scarabs. We can't have something like that happening again." Batman explained. After a two-second zip around the room, the heroes were gone, along with their partners for the mission.

"This is  _not real!_ " Klarion said, enraged, knowing this was a fight his side couldn't win. Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman flew over the villains heads, and grabbed Artemis and Robin.

Klarion growled, and with a snap of his fingers, the Light and the Reach disappeared.

There was a few moments of silence.

Suddenly, every comm in the room went off.

" _Superman to Team and League. We quickly made our way to Antarctica and The Reach ship has been destroyed_."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 27TH, 2025**

**17:07 EST**

It started off with a lot of hugging and kissing between several Leaguers and Team members.

Then it went onto Wally explaining everything he could; where he was sent when he 'died', why he was sent back, and lastly, the moment he dreaded, having to reveal the armor to his friends, tell them about the experience of living with the scarab controlling him, and at one point, having to admit that he was technically the one who killed Iris. They all seemed very understanding and forgiving, however.

Artemis was wrapped in a blanket, the former hostage picking at a bowl of soup. Speedy sat next to her, ready for her almost-certain death. She sighed as she heard the Zeta Tube recognize Red Arrow. He stomped in, spotting Speedy on the couch right away.

" _You_ -"

"Dad." Lian tried to stay calm.

"Do you know what you even  _did_?!" Red Arrow screamed, "You left for a mission that I didn't even allow you to go on, Jade and I had no idea where you were, and you could have easily  _died_!"

"Roy, please-" Dick began, putting a hand on his shoulder.

" _This is not your business!_ " Roy shouted, shoving Dick's hand off, "She acted like a complete idiot!"

"She didn't." Batman defended, "Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing for her to leave without telling you where she was going, but she did the work of a hero. She did what was right, what helped us find our friends."

"She could have died!" Red Arrow retorted.

"And there she is, sitting on the couch,  _alive_!" Batman threw his hands in the air, "She did good work."

Red Arrow didn't respond.

"You know  _exactly_  what the hero life is like, Roy. So I'm gonna let your daughter live it." Batman informed. Both Lian and Roy were confused by this. Batman turned to Miss Martian.

"I'm not the leader of the Team anymore, so I don't have a say on who is on the Team and who isn't." Dick began, "But Miss Martian, I ask you to allow Speedy to join. She is underneath the age limit, yes, but I think it is an appropriate time to make an exception."

Miss Martian nodded in agreement, then asked, "What do you say, Speedy?"

" _Yes_!" Speedy exclaimed.

" _No_!" Roy responded, "There's no way I'm-" Roy stopped mid-sentence as he saw his daughter giving him the biggest puppy-dog eyes he has ever seen. After a few seconds of silence, he responded, "Fine."

Lian cheered, hugged her father, exclaiming, "I love you, dad!"

She then turned around, facing Wally, pulling something out her pocket, "Here, take this." she insisted.

"Huh?" Wally asked, realizing it was the smartcube that Dick had given him, "How'd you get this?"

"It's a long story. I just wanted you to have it back." Lian explained.

"Speaking of the hero business," Barry began, bringing up the previous subject, "I... well... I think I should just settle down. I have to raise kids by myself now, and I am starting to get a bit old." he turned to Wally, "I'd like to ask you if-"

"No." Wally rejected. The entire Watchtower went silent, the same silence as the one time Wally knocked Lagoon Boy onto his back. "I always wanted to be the Flash, and I still do, don't doubt that." Wally told his uncle, and the scarab's armor covered his body once again, "But... I'm something else now."

"Bart?" Barry asked, "Will you take on the role of Flash?"

Bart was silent for a few seconds, before shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Yeah, sure, why not."

The casualness of Bart's response made laughter erupt through the Watchtower, and earned Bart a teasing scold from Jaime.

"Then  _Irey_ ," Bart began, turning to the ginger-haired girl, "Will you do the honor of taking on the role of Kid Flash for me?"

Artemis' jaw dropped. But... they lived in Palo Alto now... and Irey was still young!

"Yeah, sure, why not." Irey mocked Bart, "But yes."

Bart laughed, giving the ginger haired girl a noogie. Wally sat down next to his girlfriend, armor pulled back, and whispered, "Babe, look's like we're moving to Central City!"

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**JANUARY 28TH, 2025**

**10:56 EST**

"So... what you do with Queen Bee and the Brain?" Wally asked as he looked at his friend on his hologram.

"After a few court dates, they both should be spending a long time at Belle Rave." Dick informed, not moving his eyes away from the screen.

"Any trace of the Reach or the Light yet?" Wally asked.

"Uh... not technically... but we have located Jai." Dick confirmed.

"You have?!" Wally asked with excitement.

"Yeah." Dick said, confused and pulling up a video, "He's made himself... quite public already."

"What do you mean?" Wally asked, confused.

Dick began playing the video that was uploaded onto Youtube, of a boy and that annoyingly-familiar-man robbing a bank. The man was laughing at the top of his lungs, shooting bullets from his two pistols in each hand into the ceiling for fun. The boy had bundles of cash in his arms, and it definitely looked like Jai- well, at least the facial features. Did he dye his hair black?

He noticed the person recording, and sped up to him. The camera man gasped behind his phone.

"No, no. Keep the video going." the boy laughed, "Thanks for convincing me to use my powers,  _dad_. I just wanted to say, it's been nice knowing you. But Inertia has other things to attend to now." he sped out of the bank, the man following him. The video ended.

Wally didn't move. After a few seconds, he finally spoke, "Did he just call himself Inertia?"

"Yup." Dick confirmed.

"And inertia means..." Wally trailed off.

"So he's a problem now." Dick confirmed again.

Wally sighed. His son. The son he barely knew but loved anyways.

His son was apart of The Light.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what'd you guys think? Leave a review! If you have any questions, they may be answered in my Bluepulse drabbles that will be released soon, taking place in the same universe as this one. (Spoilers: some of the drabbles will include Bart's experience while he was being tortured... why Artemis wasn't killed (and the weird way she was tortured which affected Bart as well)... and more hints on who the "oh-so-familiar-man" is.)
> 
> LINE UP FOR BLUEPULSE SHORTS
> 
> 1\. "BIRD CALLING" - JULY 21ST, 2015
> 
> 2\. "CREMA HIELO" - JULY 22ND, 2015
> 
> 3\. "SKILLS" - JULY 23RD, 2015
> 
> 4\. "A SOMEWHAT MERRY CHRISTMAS" - JULY 28TH, 2015
> 
> 5\. "MILAGRO, I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM" - JULY 29TH, 2015
> 
> 6\. "DEATH WISH" - JULY 30TH, 2015
> 
> 7\. "IT'S SIMPLE: I LOVE YOU" - JULY 31ST, 2015
> 
> 8\. "BAD THOUGHTS" - AUGUST 1ST, 2015
> 
> 9\. "LOVE IS" - AUGUST 2ND, 2015
> 
> 10\. "CREAMER ENTHUSIASTS" - AUGUST 3RD, 2015
> 
> 11\. "META" - AUGUST 4TH, 2015
> 
> 12\. "PROM FRIGHT" - AUGUST 5TH, 2015
> 
> 13\. "IMPULSIVE" - AUGUST 6TH, 2015
> 
> 14\. "LAUGH AT THE MEMORIES" - AUGUST 7TH, 2015
> 
> 15\. "PANCAKES" - AUGUST 8TH, 2015
> 
> ...and then 4 days later, I start school. So I won't be able to post stories often. If you're wondering about the July 24th - July 27th gap, it's because I'm on vacation.
> 
> ...Should I write a sequel to this story or nah?


End file.
